In an effort to refinance Utopia's bonds and to gain more working capital, the network's board of directors will be asking those cities to increase their original $202 million commitment over 20 years to approximately a half-billion dollars over a 32-year period.

By increasing their commitments, the cities will be pledging to use tax revenues if necessary to guarantee the repayment of $189 million in bonds the network hopes to issue within the next couple of months.

"Utopia representatives have been meeting with all of the city councils over the past several weeks, explaining the need for them to increase their pledges," Utopia spokeswoman Maura Carabello said.

Mayor Dan Snarr of Murray, a longtime Utopia supporter, said he remains eager for the network to succeed and will be supporting the network's plan.

"We knew there would be challenges," Snarr said. "But our residents will end up paying a lot more [to incumbent providers such as Qwest and Comcast] if Utopia fails."

Utopia, short for the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency, was founded in 2002 with the goal of providing every home and business in its member communities with access to a high-speed, fiber-optic connection.

The organization has run into financial setbacks and low customer counts, and now needs to refinance its bonds to lower its interest rate and launch a revised business plan. Its board of directors, made up of representatives of each member city, hopes the new strategy will place the network on a firmer financial footing.

At a meeting with the Centerville City Council last week, Utopia Chairman Alex Jensen said the proposed bond issue would give the network an additional $11 million to complete development of its system.

Instead of running fiber-optic lines past every home and business as originally planned, Utopia intends to adopt a less-costly strategy. It will build "fiber rings" that eventually can be accessed by all the neighborhoods in the cities where the network still needs to be built.

Utopia has asked the city councils in its 11 member cities to make their decisions by the end of the month on whether they will increase their pledges.