Last year MobilePro won a competitive bid and later conducted a successful pilot project in the city's downtown area that provided outdoor public Wi-Fi Internet access and real-time video applications in Sacramento's Cesar Chavez Plaza Park.
MobilePro said that after being declared the RFP winner and going through a lengthy permitting process, the city forwarded MobilePro a counter proposal requiring that the company establish a free high-speed wireless network supported almost exclusively by advertising revenue without the benefit of the city serving as an anchor tenant. Based on the company's successful Tempe, Ariz. model, MobilePro's original proposal provided for limited area, limited bandwidth, no-cost service but required higher bandwidth broadband users to pay a monthly fee. MobilePro also offered an alternative designed to close the "digital divide" to the city's low-income quintile of residents, which included the city serving as an anchor tenant, but this proposal was likewise rejected by the city.
MobilePro President and Chief Operating Officer Jerry Sullivan said, "It is our understanding based on the final request of the City of Sacramento that the city would require MobilePro to provide free high-speed wireless Internet service to all residents and have the company rely primarily on advertising revenues for its profits and returns on investment. Based upon MobilePro's research and experience as one of the leading Wi-Fi broadband wireless network service providers to municipalities in North America, MobilePro does not believe that an advertising-supported business case is financially sustainable. At this time, we view such a restrictive economic model as incompatible with our original long-term plans for both the residents of Sacramento as well as the MobilePro stockholders."
Sullivan added, "We appreciate the opportunity to work with the City of Sacramento and wish the city the best of luck moving forward with this project in a manner that fits its needs. MobilePro will continue to actively pursue its access-based revenue business model with other municipalities throughout the United States in the future as we have in the past."
About MobilePro Corp.
MobilePro Corp., based in Bethesda, Md., is one of North America's leading wireless broadband companies. The company serves over 220,000 total customer lines throughout the United States, primarily through its CloseCall America, AFN and Kite subsidiaries.
An investment profile about MobilePro Corp. may be found online at www.hawkassociates.com/mobilepro/profile.php.
Check out MobilePro's web site
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