Buildout of FirstNet sites with Band 14 capability still ahead of schedule, AT&T official says
Sambar said that AT&T has not yet delivered all 72 of the deployable units dedicated for FirstNet use—the deadline for that is later this year—but noted that all deployable requests from public safety have been met to date.
While most coverage discussions focus on outdoor coverage, AT&T is willing to work with jurisdictions to bolster in-building coverage in their territories, as well, Sambar said.
“When we sign up new customers—usually, before we sign them up—they tell us if they have any in-building issues, and we go out and rectify them,” Sambar said. So, we will do it for them.
“If a first-responder agency is going into a bank or regular office building where they don’t have coverage, we would love to see building owners take steps to get LTE coverage in their buildings to support FirstNet, and we would be more than happy to work with them to do that.”
“I hesitate to say that something mandatory should be done in any state, county, etc., so I won’t go that far. But we’re big supporters of getting the coverage where public safety needs it. A lot of jurisdictions have done that around land mobile radio, getting repeaters in buildings. I think we’ve all got to work together to get public safety the in-building coverage they need, and it can’t just be done by one group like us, because it’s an incredibly expansive, with millions of buildings across the U.S.”
For jurisdictions that want to integrate FirstNet in-building coverage into their codes, AT&T is willing to provide support to their efforts, Sambar said.
“We have an in-building team that does this and has been doing this for years,” he said. “We would be more than happy to work with whatever the jurisdiction it is that’s requiring it.
“We’ll work with them to get Band 14 in there especially, because public safety needs to have their own spectrum in the building. We’ll give them any help that they need on the code to make sure that it’s done the right way, so that public safety what they need.”