FirstNet says opt-out states must share revenues, meet nationwide network policies

FirstNet Vice Chairman Jeff Johnson echoed this sentiment.

“We are building this nationwide network for public safety, and that doesn’t mean seven of 56 states, territories and commonwealths—it means all 56,” Johnson said. “That means we’re going to have to take resources from areas that produce more, and share them in the places don’t produce enough.

“That’s not a point that should be lost on anybody. Congress has plenty of opportunities to say, ‘This is for this state, and this is for that state,’ but they didn’t. This is a nationwide network, and that’s our charge.”

In a related legal interpretation, opt-out states will have to adhere to all FirstNet network policies. Conceptually, this was expected, but Karp noted that the FirstNet network policies would not be static.

“Our network policies are something that are going to be deployed on an ongoing basis—they’re going to change, they’re going to be variable for a long period of time, and they’re critical,” Karp said. “We preliminarily concluded in the original notice and confirm that our network policies have to apply across the board, whether a state assumes that responsibility or whether it’s FirstNet responsibility. And that’s key.

“That’s key for interoperability, to ensure that we have one nationwide network, no matter who is responsible for the deployment of pieces of it. [It’s key to ensure] that public safety, when they cross state boundaries, are getting the exact same user experience in State A as they are in State B, because we know public-safety incidents don’t stop at the state border.”

Other final legal interpretations approved by the board include rules regarding the role of governors in the opt-out procedure and the nature of FirstNet’s state-plan proposal, based on a presentation made by FirstNet staff members during the meeting. Complete text of the 64 legal interpretations is expected to be released later this week, according to FirstNet spokesman Ryan Oremland.