Cox Files Lawsuit Against RI Commerce Corp Relating to $108M in Federal Broadband Funds

Cox Files Lawsuit Against RI Commerce Corp Relating to $108M in Federal Broadband Funds

Cox Communications filed a blistering lawsuit against the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation on Monday — Governor Dan McKee is chair of the agency.

The lawsuit is scathing in its criticism of Commerce Corp and, de facto, its management of the program to distribute more than $108 million of federal money to improve internet speed and access.

The 33-page lawsuit was filed in Providence Superior Court. 

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The federal grant to Rhode Island had been announced in June of 2023 by former Rhode Island governor and now Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

Raimondo and the Biden administration made big promises with the program.

“What this announcement means for people across the country is that if you don’t have access to quality, affordable high-speed Internet service now – you will, thanks to President Biden and his commitment to investing in America,” said Secretary Raimondo. “Whether it’s connecting people to the digital economy, manufacturing fiber-optic cable in America, or creating good-paying jobs building Internet infrastructure in the states, the investments we’re announcing will increase our competitiveness and spur economic growth across the country for years to come.”

 

Legal Battle

The lawsuit alleges that “Rather than using taxpayer funds to ensure high-speed access to all Rhode Islanders – including low-income Rhode Islanders in need – the Commerce Corporation has devised a program that will benefit wealthy parts of the State already served with high-speed internet in contravention of the program that it purports to implement.”

Further, Cox claims in the suit, “The Commerce Corporation has continued to keep hidden the data used to develop this flawed process and refuses to accept Cox’s data, instead insisting that Cox satisfy the impossible-to-meet challenge process. It has also rejected all of Cox’s many reasonable attempts to resolve these issues. Cox respectfully requests declaratory and injunctive relief.”

Stephanie Federico, vice president of public and government affairs for Cox Communications, and attorneys for the company said, "The mapping is just wrong, and Commerce claims that areas are underserved when they are not."

“Unfortunately, the Commerce plan and flawed mapping focus on parts of the state like Barrington, Newport, and Jamestown at the expense of Central Falls, Woonsocket, and Providence,” said Federico. “This program may not have gotten a lot of attention, but mayors and elected officials in urban core communities should be concerned because their constituents are getting left behind.”

Commerce did not respond to questions.

 

Latest for Beleaguered Agency

This is just the latest issue for Commerce Secretary Liz Tanner, who oversaw the financial deal for the minor league soccer stadium, has struggled to assist small businesses during the Washington Bridge failure, and has seen an endless number of senior staff leave the agency.

Rhode Island’s $108,718,820.75 was part of the national $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

At the end of the day, the claim by Cox is that Commerce is reliant on faulty data.

According to the Broadband Availability Map published by the Federal Communications Commission, 99.3% of Rhode Islanders have access to high-speed internet. For purposes of the BEAD program, an “unserved” household is defined as having less than 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds (“25/3”) and “underserved” as having less than 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds (“100/20”).

According to Cox, it offers at least 1 Gbps/35 Mbps service and, in many instances, 2 Gbps /100 Mbps service in areas where Commerce maps claim areas are underserved.

Cox says Commerce’s flawed mapping process reclassified 30,000 homes as underserved. This process captured homes in some of Rhode Island’s wealthiest neighborhoods, including homes in Barrington on Rumstick Road and Nayatt Point and mansions along Ocean Drive in Newport.

“Commerce is relying on inaccurate mapping resulting from a flawed process to support their agenda. We know their analysis is flawed because Cox provides high-speed internet access to the very locations and areas they say are underserved,” stated Federico.

Cox says it has repeatedly asked Commerce for the data it relied on to support their reclassification process.

Initially, Commerce ignored the request; then, when Cox filed an APRA request in an attempt to gain access to what should be readily available public information, Cox was asked to produce a check for more than $52,000 and informed it would take thousands of hours to fulfill the request.

Cox, who works in 18 states, says Rhode Island’s program is an aberration, the only one "constructed with so much burden and flaws."