Bountiful City voted for fiber broadband. Big cable wants to take it away.

May 26 was an historic day for Bountiful City. The City Council voted unanimously, 5-0, to provide its residents with lightning fast, universal and affordable fiber broadband service by partnering with UTOPIA Fiber, the same company that provides fiber-to-the-home service in 20 cities across Utah. Prior to the vote, the city underwent a very thorough, transparent process and opened the opportunity to provide broadband to the city’s residents to everyone, including the state’s largest cable and broadband companies. This process included surveys, a feasibility study and an invitation to all providers to submit a proposal. Only after this years-long process did the city sign a contract with UTOPIA Fiber. UTOPIA Fiber was on track to start construction this summer until a dark money organization called the Utah Taxpayers Association (UTA) hired a group called Gather Utah to obtain signatures for a petition that would stop the city from building the broadband network it chose to provide to its residents. UTA is a “dark money” organization because it doesn’t currently publish a list of its dues paying members or its Board of Directors, so a Bountiful resident would have no idea who is behind this effort to take away this public benefit. Similarly, Gather Utah has no website, no listed phone number and no list of board members, staff or funding sources. Here is what we do know.

[Gigi Sohn is the Executive Director of the American Association for Public Broadband]