SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 16, 2013 – Today UTOPIA, the open-access fiber-optic network formed by a group of Utah cities to provide critical advanced communications infrastructure to their residents, together with its Internet Service Providers, announced a drastic price reduction of its blazing fast 1 gigabit-per-second residential service.

Starting today, seven Utah based Internet service providers (ISPs) on the UTOPIA network are offering 1-gigabit service for as low as $64.95 per month—representing a 78% reduction from the launch price of $299 in June 2012 – they are: Beehive Broadband, Brigham.net, InfoWest, SumoFiber, Veracity Networks, WebWave, and XMission.

This change reflects the collaboration of UTOPIA and its partner ISPs to provide a wide range of options for consumers, as well as UTOPIA’s commitment to continually upgrade and improve its network. Because of the vision and foresight of its member cities, UTOPIA is one of the few networks in the country capable of delivering 1 gigabit-per-second service (upload and download) to residential customers.

Following the pioneering effort and vision of Utah, residents of Danville, Va., Chattanooga, Tenn., Lafayette, La., and a handful of others also have access to gigabit service through community networks and in recent months, Google’s fiber optic efforts in Kansas City, Mo.; Austin, Texas; and most recently Provo, Utah, has raised the profile and desirability of gigabit speeds. In addition to the exceptional speeds, subscribers on the UTOPIA network have the added advantage of choosing their ISP based on the services and pricing that best meets their individual needs. “XMission is proud to offer gigabit residential service at an affordable price on UTOPIA,” said Pete Ashdown, CEO of XMission. “As the Internet becomes an essential conduit for work, school, and entertainment, gigabit availability is essential. Only fiber allows this kind of bandwidth and speed.”

Ultrahigh-speed broadband connections are fast becoming the standard for Internet communications such as streaming video, social media, telecommuting, distance learning, video conferencing, voice over IP, and much more. UTOPIA’s gig makes everything done on the Internet today even faster, like Skyping with family and friends, uploading and downloading photos, music and video in the blink of an eye, or working from home seamlessly with greater telecommuting and data transfer capabilities. Having advanced infrastructure in place enables even greater innovation involving vast amounts of data.

“Gigabit speeds are quickly becoming a necessity for residential users,” said Drew Peterson, CEO of Veracity Networks. “With so many connected devices in every home, the average speed of 8 megabits just won’t get the job done anymore. We’re excited to bring gigabit speeds to more of our subscribers.”

“More residents in Utah have access and the ability to connect to the digital world at the speed of light than anywhere else in the country and the prices and services being offered by our ISPs make it affordable for many more customers,” said Gary Jones, COO of UTOPIA. “This new price is an incredible value. For not much more than most phone and cable companies charge for their basic 8 megabits per second service, our customers get speeds that are more than 100 times faster.”

Today’s announcement validates the foresight UTOPIA cities had in developing this vital infrastructure. The network provides a platform for companies to develop new and innovative services and Gigabit speeds dramatically enhance its potential, promote economic development, and enable a new realm of opportunities that aren’t even imaginable today.

In addition to the monthly ISP fee, UTOPIA subscribers pay an infrastructure fee for the fiber connection. More information can be found at www.utopianet.org/gig.