From: Ryan Baxter
To: Rep. McKell, M.,
Subject: "Interlocal Entity Service Prohibition" Bill
Date: 2014-02-06T06:17:43Z
Body:
Dear Mr. McKell,
I am writing as a concerned Utah citizen about the "Interlocal Entity Service Prohibition" Bill. I would greatly appreciate a response giving your stance on this bill. From what I have read, this bill mostly inhibits the expansion of fiber optic cable lines outside of cities that have officially decided to embrace fiber services. This bill destroys the ability of fiber-supplying companies to expand in Utah, and for some of them to even stay viable. One of the reasons Google invested in the Provo area and the entire state of Utah by extension is because they viewed the area as a forward-moving technology sector. This bill is a bold statement that Utah will block technology competition through legal means rather than let companies try to improve services to stay on par with competition. In the long run, this bill either adds red tape to fiber service providers, or will limit fiber service providers in Utah, potentially hurting many Utah businesses. To put this idea in perspective, many websites for non-technology businesses would be difficult to quickly load with a 56k connection, what once was the best internet connection speed available. It's not inconceivable that one day fiber will become the expected standard and Utah will be labeled as an out of touch state. Please consider this bill carefully, as it effects every Utah business, not just cable and fiber service providers.