A wide area network assisted multimedia content delivery system (200) includes a first wide area network handset (205) and a second wide area network handset (207) having one or more transceivers (208) for exchanging information over the wide band network as well as multimedia information via an ad hoc communication. A wide area base unit (201) is used for communicating with the first wide area network handset (205) and second wide area network handset (207) where a content distribution broker (203) associated with the wide area base unit (201) is used for brokering multimedia content (audio, video and text data) between the first wide area network handset (205) and the second wide area network handset (207). The transceiver (208) operates to exchange multimedia content in an ad hoc communication directly between the first wide area network handset (205) and second wide area network handset (207) when within a predetermined proximity.