"We are moving from the information society to the Networked Society, where the primary concern is not just having access to information, but what benefit you get out of it," said Craig Stein, executive vice president, US Regions, Broadband & Media for Ericsson. "Working for many years with rural coverage in the U.S., Ericsson has built a deep understanding of the market. In combination with our early start in LTE technology, this makes us a natural choice to help bring broadband to people in these areas."

Broadband availability and speed drive economic growth, an issue of particular importance to rural areas. In 2010, Ericsson and Arthur D. Little concluded that for every 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration GDP increases by 1 percent. A follow up study in 2011 concerning the impact of broadband speed upgrades on GDP, showed that doubling the broadband speed for an OECD economy increases GDP growth by 0.3 percent.

The global LTE population coverage is 325 million, of which 215 million are covered by Ericsson networks.