FirstNet board members Dowd, Johnson share visions for broadband system
While current outreach efforts are focused on the state level, both board members acknowledged that FirstNet’s greatest challenge may be convincing local first-responder agencies to subscribe to the nationwide broadband network. Dowd said he believes this can be done successfully, if the FirstNet system meets certain criteria.
“It is the future of our ability to share information,” Dowd said. “I think it’s irresistible to folks, as long as we do some very important things at a high level. First of all, we have to build it in a way that public safety can trust it. We have to do it at a price that makes sense for the users; if we make this too expensive, it won’t fly.
“We’ve talked for year—even before the legislation was passed [that established FirstNet]—about the importance of being able to leverage the spectrum on a secondary basis to generate revenue for public safety. I could say generate revenue for FirstNet; but, really, what you’re looking to do is generate revenue for public safety, and what that will do is help keep our costs down.
“These are the kinds of things that we’re going to have to do to make sure that locals are going to buy into this. Because, as we’ve said all along, we can have a governor buy into this, but if the counties and municipalities say, ‘No, thank you,’ that’s problematic.”