Utah. You might not think of it as a technological wonderland, but the state is at the center of the nation's largest broadband political debate. The $470 million, eighteen city municipal push is seeing no shortage of controversy now that it has found the national spotlight.

The largest municipal broadband project in the United States, Project UTOPIA (Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency) should provide cable, phone and broadband service to some 723,000 residents in 248,000 households and 34,500 businesses via fiber.

Though there is now hundreds of municipal operations nation-wide, they've primarily been ignored by mainstream media outlets. With the size of the UTOPIA project, the municipal push is finally getting some national attention.

Incumbents argue they've worked hard to wire these communities, and municipal operations have an unfair advantage by sometimes pulling from taxpayer revenue. They also suggest it's unfair to have to compete with the same institutions that are often regulating them. As a result there's a push to ban municipal operations in a handful of states.

Municipal supporters argue that these operations are born from a lack of service; and wouldn't exist if incumbents had provided timely connectivity to begin with. Muni-supporters often suggest that if a community votes to support such an initiative, why should they be stopped? They also argue the incumbents had no such barriers to entry when they began to offer service.

In some of these debates, municipal supporters are often out-gunned and out-manned; in one such project in Illinois, a well designed PR campaign by local incumbents helped to quickly erode muni-efforts. Unless they're backed by a larger government or Utility provider, these are often grass-roots and small community efforts facing very effective and experienced public relations machines.

UTOPIA is a far larger and more complex animal. The project has 18 interested cities, with planners claiming there is ten more waiting in the wings. The build-out of the network is expected to take between two and a half to three years. To ensure the initial launch goes smoothly, Light Reading reported earlier this month that one telecom provider will have a brief triple-play monopoly while the network gains its footing.

Its size has naturally drawn the interest of its would-be competitors. One Utah Rural Telecom Association spokesman recently called the idea "wrong", and claimed private industry could do a better job. Jerry Fenn, president of the Utah division of Qwest, wonders "Why provide a Rolls-Royce when a Chevrolet will do?" The likely reason? Qwest's "Chevrolet" service (DSL) is only available to roughly 60 percent of residents in the state.

As with smaller municipal project, money is at the heart of the debate. As the Salt Lake Tribune explores, some leaders of that city are suddenly beginning to get cold feet six months before the first fiber is laid. Likewise the Deseret Morning News reports area leaders are fighting growing criticism of the project in part prompted by national attention.

We've posted an e-mail from Mayor Dan Snarr of Murray, UT, in response to local editorial criticism of the project in our Broadband Politics forum. A map of the areas that will receive service is here, and Converge Network Digest recently posted an excellent technical breakdown of the UTOPIA network here. The Utopia website also offers up this white paper in pdf format.