In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama said that making broadband available for 98 percent of Americans is essential to “winning the future.” This was a verbal challenge that underscores the importance of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, which states that “broadband can and must serve as a foundation for long-term economic growth, ongoing investment, and enduring job creation.”
LightSquared has accepted this challenge, representing $14 billion in private investment in America’s infrastructure, while the deployment and management of our network is anticipated to generate more than 15,000 jobs in each of the next five years.
LightSquared supports the plan to connect America, creating economic opportunities and job growth—especially in areas that have traditionally been on the wrong side of the digital divide. In March we signed an agreement with Open Range Communications, a broadband wireless provider of Internet and digital phone service to rural American communities. You can read more about our partnership here. We’ll be collaborating on the design, build-out, and operation of Open Range’s network as well as on product and service evolution.
In April LightSquared signed bilateral roaming agreements with SI Wireless, a partnership of rural independent telephone companies; and Cellular South, the nation’s largest privately-owned wireless communications provider, to provide a nationwide 4G-LTE footprint as well as satellite coverage.
These agreements demonstrate our commitment to the underserved rural market. Providing access to the latest generation mobile services for businesses, healthcare facilities, tribal communities, and public safety agencies in rural areas benefits all of us — not only LightSquared — but also our current and prospective partners and Americans everywhere.