QUALCOMM Pitches Mobile Solution To Rural Broadband

In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, QUALCOMM says a comprehensive rural broadband plan should include insuring that 100% of Americans have access to at least one mobile broadband network. QUALCOMM said that funding from the stimulus package should be used to achieve that 100% mobile broadband access goal. "[M]obile broadband services lie at the crux of extending these opportunities to all residents of Rural America," the company argues. "The laws of economics cannot be repealed-it is far more cost effective to provide mobile broadband in rural areas, as compared to any fixed or wireline solution." QUALCOMM argues that mobile's benefits are that it is available, there is equipment in the market and that the spectrum for it has been auctioned and licensed.