Rhode Island’s economic development agency is forging ahead with a $108 million high-speed internet program, despite a lawsuit from Cox Communications contesting the data used to develop the plan.

Rhode Island Commerce Corp. on Monday agreed to spend another $434,000 on its contract with international telecommunications firm Altman Solon LLP, according to Matt Touchette, a Commerce spokesperson. A copy of the agreement was not immediately available.

The company was hired in August 2023 for a $1.3 million, two-year contract to help Rhode Island meet requirements tied to various federal broadband expansion programs. That included $108 million awarded to the Ocean State through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The federal funding aims to bring high-speed internet to underserved communities in states nationwide.

Yet the data around which R.I. Commerce built its initial proposal — identifying neighborhoods where internet speeds were slower than federally accepted minimums — is under scrutiny by one of the state’s largest internet service providers. 

R.I. Commerce, Cox Communications can’t connect on broadband access map

The Sept. 23 lawsuit filed by Cox Communications asks a Providence County Superior Court judge to stop R.I. Commerce from proceeding with its broadband access plan, which has already received preliminary approval from federal regulators. A final proposal, due July 2025, must also be approved in order to receive federal funding.

Cox alleges that the state’s plan relies on inaccurate and outdated broadband maps, which incorrectly classified 30,000 homes statewide, including affluent areas in Newport and Westerly, as “underserved communities” in need of broadband access. Cox contends that it already provides high-speed internet to these areas, accusing the state of mismanaging federal funding at the expense of residents who truly need broadband access.

Touchette said in an interview on Monday that the increase in funding for Altman Solon is unrelated to the pending lawsuit. Instead, Touchette pointed to new and updated federal requirements for the BEAD program as reason for “cost overages” beyond what the existing contract envisioned.

For example, federal regulators recently released new guidance for states on incorporating low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites into their plans. The satellites are typically used to bring internet to remote or otherwise inaccessible locations, and are not expected to significantly change Rhode Island’s existing plan, according to Touchette. In order to qualify for full federal funding, the state has to incorporate the new rules regarding LEO satellites anyway.

To Karl Wadensten, a Commerce board member, the extra funding to Altman Solon is a no-brainer.

“Either you’re going to spend the money on the contract, which gets offset when you get the $108 million, or you don’t spend it and you don’t qualify for federal funding,” Wadensten said in an interview on Wednesday.

Underlying the expense is the lack of in-house expertise among state officials to comply with the avalanche of federal requirements. Wadensten suspects Rhode Island is not alone in this.

“No one in Rhode Island knows how to do this, but I don’t think anyone in any of the states knows,” Wadensten said.

Charlie Meisch, a spokesperson for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said the BEAD program was intended to be flexible based on the “changing realities that states are facing.”

“We continue to issue guidance and technical assistance to support the states in this important program, and one of our ongoing top priorities is equipping the states with the tools they need to run a successful grant program,” Meisch said in a statement Wednesday.

Calling in the experts

Anticipating the wave of federal funding available for broadband programs, Rhode Island lawmakers passed legislation in 2022 to create a state broadband coordinator position and a complementary, 12-member advisory panel. Mark Preston, vice president of construction in the eastern region for Cox, is one of the members on the broadband advisory council.

Former state Rep. Deborah Ruggiero, who sponsored the 2022 bill and sits on the state broadband advisory council, said it was unrealistic for the state broadband coordinator to handle all elements of Rhode Island’s broadband plan alone.

“The federal regulations apply the same to every state in the country,” Ruggiero, a Jamestown Democrat, said in an interview Wednesday. “Virginia has 20 staff devoted to broadband. Maine has eight. We have two people within Commerce.”

Hence, why Commerce sought outside expertise to develop the state’s broadband infrastructure plan, including developing and implementing the components of its BEAD program. 

Altman Solon, selected through a competitive bidding process, describes itself as a leading international telecommunications, media and technology strategy consultant firm, with its own proprietary network planning tool to help internet service providers and state governments expand broadband coverage and comply with federal funding requirements. 

Swope Fleming, a partner in Altman Solon’s Boston office, declined to comment on the firm’s work for R.I. Commerce when reached by phone Wednesday.

The original, August 2023 work order does not specifically mention mapping in the scope of company work, but requires the firm to help identify and plan for how to serve neighborhoods in need of expanded broadband access.

Cox in its lawsuit alleged the state erred in its mapping, relying on consumer-reported, free speed tests through a company called Ookla, that were “layered” over existing federal broadband information for Rhode Island. However, no one, including Cox, has actually seen the data used to create the state broadband maps, which do not align with the company’s own data or other publicly available resources, according to the lawsuit.

Not for lack of trying. Cox submitted a public records request for the information, but was told it would take 3,440 hours for R.I. Commerce to compile and review, with a corresponding $52,000 cost for labor. 

Without this information, Cox maintains it did not get a fair chance to protest the state broadband maps during the 38-day public challenge period, which ended July 6. The internet provider also said it did not have time to run the 105,000 speed tests needed to formally challenge the map based on the state requirements.

The extra funding for Altman Solon’s contract also covers the cost to respond to information requests from internet service providers, Touchette said. He did not directly name Cox or the lawsuit in his explanation.

“We attempt to be maximally responsive to any information request we receive, and we want to be sure our responses are technically sound,” Touchette said. “This is true at all times but was especially prudent given recent events.”

Touchette previously refuted the claims made by Cox in the lawsuit, in turn accusing the company of trying to undermine the state’s broadband infrastructure rollout plan because it could help competing internet service providers.

Ruggerio labeled the lawsuit a “PR stunt.”

“The NTIA has indicated the process was fair, equitable and transparent,” Ruggiero said. “Cox was at the meetings; they know exactly what the process was. Now, they are having a temper tantrum because they can’t get all of the $108 million that’s coming to Rhode Island.”

“There’s no harm to Cox,” Ruggerio continued. “They are free to bid like every other vendor.”

Regardless of Cox’s intentions, it’s possible state broadband maps could look different than what Cox’s internal data suggests, said Don Nokes, president and cofounder of IT services firm NetCenergy. That’s especially true for “last-mile” physical infrastructure that connects the larger network to an individual home or business.

“The last mile map is constantly being updated,” said Nokes, whose Warwick-based company helped develop last-mile infrastructure plans for several area colleges and universities. “It’s a moving target. If two different people are collecting the data, they are not going to be in sync.”

Bill Fischer, a spokesperson for Cox, reiterated the company’s concerns over “inaccurate and manipulated” maps and data in a statement Wednesday. 

“We have significant concerns about how Commerce is spending these precious one-time federal dollars to build redundant broadband internet infrastructure in some of Rhode Island’s wealthiest communities,” Fischer said. “We’ve made several requests for the rationale and data they used to make their determinations since their mapping contradicts our network’s capabilities and our own speed test results as well as the FCC’s National Broadband Map – but we have been rebuffed each time.”

Cox is the fifth-largest internet service provider and largest private broadband company nationwide, serving 7 million homes and businesses across 18 states. In Rhode Island, it competes primarily with Verizon, as local internet service providers have largely disappeared, although Block Island began its own municipal broadband service in 2023.

The lawsuit in Providence County Superior Court remains pending, according to online court records.

Updated to include comments from former state representative Deborah Ruggiero and spokespeople for Cox Communications and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.