Big-picture question about FirstNet’s commercial role bubbles to the surface
So, the bottom line is that the FirstNet system almost certainly will alter the competitive broadband landscape throughout the United States. In urban locations, there should be significantly more broadband capacity available to consumers. In some rural locations, FirstNet’s presence could provide customers with their first competitive choice; in some really remote areas, a reseller of FirstNet capacity could be the first provider of broadband service.
Meanwhile, some have said that the FirstNet system could become the de facto roaming partner for all wireless carriers. Again, a lot depends on the business model for the winning bidder, but it’s certainly a possibility.
Will FirstNet’s existence be good for the commercial market? I’ll leave that prognostication to people with economics degrees—and, frankly, I doubt even they can be very accurate in their predictions right now, before we see the results of the RFP process.
But I am confident that FirstNet will impact the commercial market in some way. I certainly hope that is the case; if it is not, that probably means that there is little commercial use on the system and that FirstNet very likely will have failed.
Should a government-supported entity like FirstNet have such a role in a commercial market? It’s an interesting question, but presumably Congress decided that debate when it created FirstNet in 2012. Public safety is counting on this network, and now is not the time to be considering a major change to FirstNet’s business model.