After weeks of data crunching, the team at UTOPIA Fiber has built more than 4,387 miles of fiberoptic infrastructure in 2022 throughout Utah, Idaho, and Montana. This impressive feat was accomplished facing fierce headwinds from supply chain constraints and labor market shortages. Additionally, UTOPIA Fiber inked the deal to provide residential services to its 20th Utah city, while also completing fiber buildouts in 14 cities, including UTOPIA’s 11 original cities. More than 20,000 Gigabit customers were added to the network (including nearly 1,000 businesses) and nearly 400 10-Gigabit customers (including nearly 300 businesses) added service. Notably, data centers, state agencies, and higher education institutions opted to take 100 Gigabit speeds—the fastest available in the United States.
“What we’re seeing here is that cities want to be ready for what’s to come,” said Roger Timmerman, Executive Director, UTOPIA Fiber. “There’s increasing competition among cities and regions for talent, opportunity, and a better quality of life for all residents. Cities with UTOPIA Fiber are incredibly well- positioned for the future. Fiber is the infrastructure that drives the digital economy, supports advanced wireless, and enhances quality of life through seamless streaming, gaming, and other high-bandwidth applications,” he said.
Throughout all its growth, UTOPIA Fiber managed to maintain its extraordinary customer ratings. The network scored a 4.6 Google Rating, far exceeding just about every other internet company in the markets it serves. It also landed a Net Promoter Score of 64, meaning that two-thirds of UTOPIA Fiber customers would enthusiastically recommend UTOPIA Fiber to a friend (most internet providers have negative rankings), an increase of three points from the previous year.
“Laid end-to-end, in 2022, UTOPIA’s crews placed enough fiber to stretch from Salt Lake City to Stockholm, Sweden—that's a lot of construction. It was especially sweet to complete fiber buildouts in our original 11 cities that had the vision to come together and create UTOPIA Fiber twenty years ago. These cities stuck with UTOPIA during early-year turbulence and through UTOPIA’s eventual turnaround in 2009. Completing these cities marks a major milestone,” said Timmerman.