Utah’s incumbent broadband providers appear to be fighting back, dropping broadband prices to retard the uptake of new triple-play services provided by Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA).

UTOPIA is a publicly owned fiber network managed by a privately held company, DynamicCity Inc. As a wholesaler it leases the infrastucture, which was funded using bonds, to retail broadband service providers for the distribution of their services (voice, video, data, etc.).

Comcast Corp. and Qwest Communications International Inc. are distributing marketing materials advertising lowered prices, but the fine print stipulates they apply only to cities where UTOPIA service is available.

As UTOPIA fiber reaches more and more neighborhoods, how far will the incumbents’ price cuts go? Could the day come in UTOPIA cities where the cost of broadband is $5 dollars a month?

Should such a price war occur, DynamicCity’s Gould suggests that a municipal network might be better prepared than the incumbents to survive it.

Source: »www.lightreading.com/document.as···=news1_1