FirstNet General Manager Bill D’Agostino: We need to hear from you

Another key accomplishment is our successful negotiation of spectrum leases with four public-safety Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) projects—the State of New Jersey, Adams County, Colo., the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority (LA-RICS) and the State of New Mexico. Each of these projects feature special characteristics that FirstNet will leverage as we build and operate this nationwide public-safety broadband network. These include things like how a project would address rural or wide-area deployments, in-building coverage issues and development of public-safety applications.

Finally, the FirstNet management team and board have been busy reaching out to our stakeholders—the public-safety community, state and local governments, tribal entities and federal users—by speaking at more than 90 conferences and other events across this country just in the last year. And our plan for the year ahead would make your head spin. We’re doing this, because it’s absolutely critical that we engage in an ongoing dialog with all of our stakeholders. We want and need to hear from you. We encourage you to reach out to your individual State Point of Contact to share your views.

At the state level, we’re getting organized and hiring staff to begin our individual state consultations in the months ahead. These are a follow-on to the regional workshops we held last summer. We understand the importance of partnering with states to develop individualized plans that will address their unique public-safety needs.  

We know we have a challenging opportunity ahead but we are committed to the success of the First Responder Network Authority and our important mission.

Bill D’Agostino is the general manager of FirstNet.