" Put another way: Cox alleges that Commerce plans to spend "millions of dollars building internet infrastructure in ... [areas] where residents already have access to high-speed internet.

One of Rhode Island’s top internet providers sued the McKee administration on Monday, accusing state officials of mismanaging the rollout of a $108 million plan for broadband expansion and relying on flawed data.

Cox Communications filed a lawsuit Monday accusing Rhode Island Commerce, a quasi-state agency, of using that “flawed” data 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 legal battle centers on the economic development agency's plans for R.I.'s share of the federal "Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program."

The telecommunication giant is accusing state officials of botching the rollout of a $108 plan to expand high-speed internet.