FirstNet board, AT&T highlight deployment, adoption, functionality progress for FirstNet
Rich Reed, FirstNet’s network management and operations officer, said that FirstNet has 31 approved devices—five of which can operate on the 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum licensed to FirstNet, according to Golaszewski—and has 23 applications that have been approved for use on the system. FirstNet and AT&T officials are in the process of vetting six other applications and are working with developers for 12 additional before they begin the application-review process, he said.
FirstNet is “very pleased” with AT&T’s progress in building out Band 14 capability for FirstNet, in addition to providing public-safety subscribers with access to all LTE spectrum bands utilized by AT&T, Reed said.
“AT&T is really working to speed up the deployment, even more quickly than they originally proposed,” Reed said, noting that public safety is “going to continue to see increases in coverage and increases in functionality.”
FirstNet officials are working with AT&T to develop a process to validate that coverage milestones are met in accordance with terms of the FirstNet contract and the state plans that were approved by the governors in all 56 states and territories.
“We’re in the process of developing a coverage-verification framework,” Reed said during the FirstNet board meeting. “I can’t tell you how complicated this is to do a nationwide coverage-validation process for over 1.75 million square miles, but it’s a very, very difficult task. Doing it in a way that’s repeatable, verifiable and, frankly, applicable for the next 24 years is going to be very difficult.
“We’re in the process of developing that process, as well as making sure that the coverage that we’re delivering is commiserate with what we put in the plan of record in the state plans. It’s a very complicated process, and the team’s doing a great job getting through that with AT&T.”