9-12-1504. Challenge process.

(a) Within three (3) business days of the close of the funding application process, the council shall publish on its official website the proposed geographic broadband service area and the proposed broadband service speeds for each application submitted. An existing broadband service provider may, within thirty (30) days of publication of the information, submit in writing to the council a challenge to an application. A challenge shall contain information demonstrating that:

(i) The provider currently provides or has begun construction or undertaken permitting or other significant steps toward construction to provide broadband service comparable to that in the proposed project at speeds equal to or greater than the speeds proposed in the application and with other capabilities and project size comparable to the project proposed in the application; or

(ii) The provider commits to complete construction of broadband infrastructure and provide broadband service comparable to that in the proposed project at speeds equal to or greater than the speeds proposed in the application and with other capabilities and project size comparable to the project proposed in the application no later than eighteen (18) months after the funding determinations are to be made under this section for the application submitted.

(b) The council shall evaluate the information submitted in a provider's challenge under this section, and is prohibited from funding a project if the council determines the provider is currently providing broadband service or the provider's commitment to provide broadband service that meets the requirements of subsection (a) of this section in the proposed project area is credible.

(c) If the council denies funding to an applicant as a result of a broadband service provider's challenge made under this section, and the broadband service provider does not fulfill the provider's commitment to provide broadband service in the project area, the council is prohibited from denying funding to an applicant as a result of a challenge by the same broadband service provider for the following two (2) fiscal years, unless the council determines that the broadband service provider's failure to fulfill the provider's commitment was the result of factors beyond the broadband service provider's control.