R.I. Agency Swats Cox Complaint That State Uses 'Flawed' Maps for BEAD

A Cox complaint about the state’s handling of NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program is “misleading and unsupported by facts,” the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation said Tuesday. In a lawsuit Monday at Rhode Island Superior Court in Providence, Cox said that Commerce’s flawed mapping and challenge process will lead to the state overbuilding wealthy communities with its $108.7 million BEAD allocation. Cox's complaint seeks declaratory judgment and an injunction to stop the state “from using flawed internet speed data that the Commerce Corporation refuses to make public to build taxpayer-subsidized and duplicative high-speed broadband internet in affluent areas of Rhode Island like the Breakers Mansion in Newport and affluent areas of Westerly.” The FCC’s broadband map shows 99.3% of Rhode Island residents have high-speed internet, Cox said. But Rhode Island Commerce reclassified 30,000 homes as underserved, including several mansions, which can receive at least 1 Gbps download and 35 Mbps upload speeds from Cox, the cable ISP said: Additionally, Rhode Island “devised a process to challenge its flawed data … that exists nowhere else in the 18 states where Cox offers service and that is impossible for Cox to meet.” Rhode Island Commerce noted that NTIA reviewed and approved its initial BEAD plan, which was “a proposal built on fairness, transparency, and a commitment to maximizing the impact of this historic federal investment.” However, Cox, the state’s biggest ISP, “declined to engage in the robust, months-long public planning process on how the Corporation would deploy Rhode Island’s BEAD funds.” The lawsuit “is an attempt to prevent the investment of $108.7 million dollars in broadband infrastructure in Rhode Island, likely because ... [Cox] realizes that some, or even all, of that money may be awarded through a competitive process to other internet service providers,” added Commerce. It said Rhode Island has unserved or underserved areas even in wealthier areas. “Whether an area is affluent or not has no bearing on the type of broadband service that is -- or is not -- available in that area.”