FirstNet tops 2.8 million connections, 18,500 agencies after best quarter ever, AT&T says

Public safety adopted FirstNet at its highest rate ever during the third quarter, resulting in the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) providing more than 2.8 million connections to more than 18,500 agencies at the end of September, FirstNet contractor AT&T announced today.

Jeff McElfresh, CEO of AT&T Communications, noted the growth in FirstNet subscriptions as a key component of the carrier giant’s growth in its overall commercial mobile wireless business during the third quarter, when the company reported 928,000 net additions of postpaid customers.

“I’d also like to point out things like our FirstNet program. We’re starting to reach some scale here,” McElfresh told analysts during AT&T’s quarterly conference call, which was webcast. “In the third quarter, we posted the highest net-adds quarter since launching the program, and we’ve arrived at a position of leadership and strength in the law-enforcement segment under that public-safety sector.”

AT&T does not release exact figures on FirstNet adoption, but the updated numbers appear to represent an increase of about 300,000 connections and 1,500 agencies during the third quarter when compared to the adoption metrics released at the end of the second quarter that concluded at the end of June. In previous quarters, AT&T typically has reported FirstNet adoption increases of 1,000 agencies served, as well as new connections ranging between 100,000 and 200,000 mark, although the second quarter of this year also saw connections jump by approximately 300,000.

AT&T officials frequently have stated their beliefs that the carrier did not have much market share in the public-safety broadband sector prior to being selected as the nationwide FirstNet contractor in March 2017. McElfresh indicated that changes like FirstNet—apparently accounting for about one-third of AT&T’s net additions for the quarter—have played a key role in the growth of the company’s overall wireless business.

“We’re now addressing new segments that we were not addressing earlier, and that’s helping us drive some of our customer momentum,” McElfresh said.

AT&T updated the FirstNet adoption figures less than a month after announcing that the company has completed more than 95% of the contracted nationwide network buildout for the FirstNet system, the second-to-last deployment milestone in the company’s five-year contract with the FirstNet Authority. Under the agreement, AT&T is supposed to complete the initial FirstNet buildout in March 2023.

With 2.8 million connections, FirstNet already is approaching the 3 million users that some industry analysts years ago projected as the high-water mark for the NPSBN, based on the notion that there are about 3 million state and local fire, police and EMS personnel in the United States.

Of course, the potential FirstNet market has grown significantly since the days of those early estimates. Instead of simply serving state and local fire, police and EMS, the “primary” FirstNet user category been expanded to include federal users—for instance, military-based personnel—and 911 telecommunicators. FirstNet also serves “extended primary” users that often support emergency responders, such as workers in the healthcare, utility and government sectors.

With this expansion, FirstNet’s potential addressable market is estimated to exceed 10 million users. In addition, with the advent of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, some FirstNet connections may not be associated with a specific public-safety user, and some subscribers could utilize multiple connections.

To date, AT&T has not shared any type of breakdown regarding the types of users or types of connections that comprise the reported FirstNet adoption figures.