FCC proposes FirstNet opt-out review process for consideration at June 22 meeting
“While there is no requirement that the Commission place a shot clock on itself for action, we find it appropriate to establish a 90-day aspirational shot clock for Commission action, which will start upon issuance of the “accepted for filing” public notice for each alternative plan,” according to the draft order. “The 90-day shot clock will establish clear expectations for the Commission and for the parties involved to encourage prompt action and avoid delay
“Although the shot clock is aspirational, we intend to apply it in the ordinary course and only anticipate suspending it under special circumstances, such as a national, state, or local emergency that requires diversion of Commission staff resources to address the situation.”
During the FCC proceeding that led to the draft order, several states expressed concern that the FCC review would be a “one and done” process—in other words, that any shortcomings in a state’s alternative plan would cause the proposal to be rejected, with the state having no change to address any problems.
In the draft order, the FCC proposes that its 90-day review period of an alternative plan begin with a 30-day “pleading cycle.” During the first 15 days of the pleading cycle, FirstNet and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)—as well as others granted status as an interested party—would have 15 days to comment on the alternative plan. Based on this input, a state then would have 15 days to amend its alternative plan to address any noted issues and/or file reply comments to complete the pleading cycle.
Another major concern voiced by states during the FCC proceeding was whether their alternative RANs would have to use FirstNet’s nationwide LTE core or whether they could use the LTE core supported by another provider related to the vendor of the state’s alternative RAN. The FCC decided not to propose a rule on the matter in its draft order.
“We find this issue to be outside the scope of our statutory review responsibility and we decline to consider it further,” according to the FCC’s draft order. “Accordingly, although we will not reject an otherwise qualified alternative plan that includes a proposed state core, we will limit our review solely to the interoperability of the state RAN with the FirstNet network as directed by the Act and will not examine possible RAN interconnection with non-FirstNet networks or cores.”
Based on the timelines included in the law and the proposed draft plan, an FCC decision about an alternative RAN plan could occur 360 days—almost a full year—after the final state plan is delivered to the governor.