§ 9-12-1505 — Funding determinations

(a) In evaluating applications and providing funding under
this article, the council shall give highest priority to
applications which the council determines are public private
partnerships.
(b) In evaluating applications and entering into
agreements to provide funding, the council shall give priority
to applications that meet one (1) or more of the following
criteria, with additional priority given for meeting multiple
criteria:
(i) Offer new or substantially upgraded broadband
service to important community institutions and businesses;
(ii) Serve economically distressed areas of the
state, as measured by indices of unemployment, poverty or
population loss that are significantly greater than the
statewide average;
(iii) Include a component to actively promote the
adoption of the newly available broadband services in the
community;
(iv) Provide evidence of strong support for the
project from citizens, government, businesses and institutions
in the community;
(v) Provide access to broadband service to a greater
number of unserved households and businesses;
(vi) Provide comparability to service offered in
urban areas, both in speed and pricing by reference to standards
published by the Federal Communications Commission;
(vii) Provide access to very high speed broadband
service to business districts or other business areas and are
likely to secure economic benefits for the surrounding locality;
(viii) Leverage greater amounts of funding for the
project from other private and public sources;
(ix) Are for projects that are economically and
technologically feasible for expanding broadband access in
unserved areas of the state.
(c) The council shall endeavor to award grants under this
section to qualified applicants in geographically diverse
regions of the state.