Public agency expands first responder network

Key Takeaways

Twenty-three years after the 9/11 tragedy, a public agency created in its wake to help better connect first responders during emergencies is continuing to ramp up improvements to its networks.

During the 9/11 terrorist attacks, first responders became frustrated trying to communicate with each other, revealing fundamental challenges that needed fixing.

Telecommunications & Technology Steering Committee

July 12

For more information or to find a FirstNet public safety regional advisor near your county, visit firstnet.gov/advisor.

“Out of those communication challenges that were captured in the 9/11 Commission report, it became a very poignant issue for the public safety community, which really rallied around the need for Congress to address this question,” said Dennis Alvord, assistant executive director of the First Responder Network Authority.

The authority oversees FirstNet, a national communications network dedicated to emergency responders and the public safety community.  

AT&T was awarded a 25-year contract in 2017 to help build out and operate the network.

AT&T and FirstNet have been under fire in recent months from opponents of a plan to award additional public safety spectrum to the entity. The NCTA (the Internet and Television Association), and others including the CIO of Boston, the New York MTA and Verizon, oppose a proposal to assign the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet and AT&T. The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure, opposing the plan, argues that the band should remain in the control of local authorities, Fierce Network reported.

“PSSA [the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance, an entity proposed to manage the band] would take the 4.9 GHz band out of the hands of local public safety entities and give it to FirstNet, and in turn AT&T, gutting the policy the Commission set forth last year in favor of local public safety control of the band,” wrote Verizon SVP/Federal Regulatory and Legal Affairs William Johnson in a filing with the FCC. Verizon says access to the spectrum would be a $14 billion “windfall” for AT&T.

AT&T said in an FCC filing last month it would gain “no license, lease or other spectrum use authorization” because the spectrum would go to a “band manager,” the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance.

Meanwhile, the FirstNet network currently serves more than 28,000 public safety agencies and organizations in every state and territory in the United States, with over 6 million connections on the network, completed last year. The authority Board recently approved a $684 million budget package for 2025 that includes funding to cover and evolve the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network.

“We work very closely with public safety to make sure their voice is heard,” said Alvord. The Public Safety Advisory Committee provides recommendations and advice to the authority. 

Earlier this year, the authority, along with AT&T, launched an initiative to invest more than $8 billion in the next 10 years to enhance its network. Plans call for:

• Building thousands of new FirstNet sites across the country including 1,000 new sites within the next two years.

• Creating a standalone 5G core to enhance current functionality.

• Expanding mission-critical services for public safety operations — voice, data and location.

• Upgrading FirstNet’s dedicated fleet of deployable network assets with 5G connectivity.

• Providing always-on priority and preemption across all AT&T 5G commercial spectrum bands.

The 2012 law that created the authority included a sunset provision to terminate the program 15 years after it was enacted. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) introduced the FirstNet Reauthorization last year.