Telecom companies seek to make Haiti a mobile nation

The earthquake that devastated Haiti also destroyed the nation's feeble network for phones and Internet service. Except for cellphones, the population was largely cut off from communication. But out of the rubble, one U.S. wireless industry pioneer sees opportunity.

John Stanton, founder of Voice Stream and former chief executive of T-Mobile USA, wants the Haitian government to forget about rebuilding its copper wire communications network. Instead, he thinks Haiti should go mobile. "Necessity is the mother of invention," Stanton said. In a keynote speech prepared for delivery at the wireless industry's CTIA trade show Wednesday in Las Vegas, Stanton called for the Haitian government to create an all-wireless nation with more robust networks for the population of nearly 10 million and to build an economy centered on mobile technology. "By deploying state-of-the-art wireless systems, we enable less-developed countries to leapfrog older technologies, and those systems become the foundation for a new economy," Stanton said.