Cedar Rapids-based ImOn Communications looks to serve Iowa City

IOWA CITY - Pending a few lease agreements, Iowa City residents could soon be offered a new option for high speed Internet, phone and television.

Officials with Cedar Rapids-based fiber optics company ImOn Communications are seeking a few agreements with the Iowa City Council to begin the first phase to build out an Iowa City infrastructure to serve local homes and businesses.

Ty Coleman, Iowa City media production services coordinator, said the presence of ImOn - which would be competing with the area's major provider, Mediacom - would create a huge benefit for residents.

'There is a need that we've perceived over the years and this is a good thing,” he said. 'The potential for this is great, to provide another offering for citizens.”

Jeff Janssen, vice president of sales and marketing with ImOn, said, with leases with the city still up in the air, he could not comment on when ImOn might add services to Iowa City - if the leases are approved - or what that service area might entail. He added that information might be available by the end of the year.

Janssen did say ImOn has a strong desire to add services to the Iowa City area.

Coleman did say it was his understanding that ImOn would likely focus downtown at first, with plans to eventually expand citywide.

'The city certainly would hope to see this company expand and cover our entire community,” he said.

But before any of that, ImOn has requested to lease a 120-square-foot space in the city's Tower Place data center to create a private communication hub. The proposed lease would be for just shy of $2,000 a year.

Additionally, ImOn is seeking to lease the excess capacity in the city's existing fiber-optic network, which would provide the initial infrastructure for ImOn's efforts.

With the right of way space occupied by such a network already limited, city staff say it makes the most sense to lease the extra capacity to ImOn, rather than have the telecommunications company build that infrastructure themselves.

A third agreement would allow ImOn the rights to install, maintain and expand their fiber-optic network within the right of way.

The council will discuss the agreements during its Tuesday meeting.

ImOn would also have to acquire a state franchise agreement at some point, Coleman added.

A survey conducted in 2013 by the city's Telecommunications Commission to gather information on the current state of residential broadband services - which includes not just Mediacom, but also CenturyLink and Southslope - found that 55 percent of respondents were dissatisfied and close to 20 percent were very dissatisfied, while 45 percent were satisfied and only 9 percent were very satisfied.

When asked the element of their service with which they were least satisfied, nearly 80 percent of respondents cited the cost of service as being too high.

'I think there's a very obvious need to have some level of completion and basically give residents more options, that's always a good thing,” Coleman said.

In a letter to council recommending approval of the three ImOn agreements, Geoff Fruin, assistant to the city manager, said a new Iowa City provider could benefit consumers.

'The presence of a new utility company should improve service offerings from all providers and also place a downward pressure on the price consumers are paying for these utilities,” he said.

This spring, crews with ImOn, whose investors include The Gazette Company, were dispatched to Iowa City neighborhoods to conduct field engineering and survey utility easements and determine the feasibility of beginning a network in Iowa City.

Around the same time, officials with Metronet Technologies conducted similar surveys, but since then the Indiana company has not made the same steps as ImOn.