FirstNet officials reiterate MCPTT plans for March 2019, hope to accelerate firefighter-location solutions
“I just don't think we can get that [implemented] fast enough. If you look at all of the differentiators that are on the street, location services is probably the number-one thing that public safety is looking for.
“The rest of it can get lost. A lot of them have pretty reliable networks right now, unless something is going wrong, but the location-based services has got to be the top feature that people are looking for—that, plus the [application] store center. Whatever we can do to step on the throttle of accelerating Z axis is pretty important.”
Of course, many of the key early milestones in the new FirstNet roadmap revolve around the decisions that governors in the 56 states and territories will have to make by mid-December. Each governor will have choose whether to accept the FirstNet state plan or pursue the “opt-out” alternative, under which the state would responsible for building, maintaining an upgrading the LTE radio access network (RAN) within its borders for the next 25 years.
After distributing the initial state plans on June 19, FirstNet officials have conducted follow-up meetings with 29 states and territories, as of today, according to FirstNet officials. Overall, 55 of the 56 states and territories have scheduled a follow-up meeting.
With the initial state plans distributed, governors are allowed to have their states “opt-in” earlier than originally planned. Kennedy said FirstNet does not anticipate any governors will decide to “opt-in” before July 15.