Officials at the National Telecommunications & Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service seem to have worked hard to ensure platform neutrality for projects to be funded under the broadband stimulus provisions of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and that likely means an unusual opportunity for wireless providers, especially in rural areas.

 

The RUS program, which focuses on rural areas, defines “rural” as an area where “75 percent” of a funded area “lacks sufficient access to high speed broadband service to facilitate economic development.”

 

RUS also says it will favor funding projects that can commence construction promptly.

 

That has several implications for wireless solutions. By definition, any area where three quarters of locations lack “sufficient” access are in that situation because density is quite low, network costs are quite high and network resources required to serve any single location are unusually high.

 

If one looks anywhere in the world where similar conditions prevail, wireless is the logical way to get networks into operation quickly. And that is the primary new angle here.

 

That is one reason why Nokia (News - Alert) Siemens Networks, for example, has been an active proponent of ARRA projects.

 

Nokia Siemens (News - Alert) Networks points out that it is the only telecommunications equipment supplier to offer I-HSPA (Internet High Speed Packet Access), a 3GPP compliant, fully standardized wireless network solution.

 

Due to its flat, all-IP architecture, I-HSPA provides significant cost and time-to-market benefits as compared to conventional solutions, and a seamless evolution path to 4G / LTE.

 

At the heart of this solution is the Nokia Siemens Networks (News - Alert) Flexi Base Station, several thousands of which are in commercial operation in North America today. The “Flexi BTS” is an optimal base station for rural broadband needs, NSN says.

 

Its small footprint, equivalent to a small briefcase, means it can be installed virtually anywhere.