Potential partnerships

One concern that D’Agostino expressed about spectrum-arbitrage proposals is that the value of the spectrum will vary greatly from location to location.

 “As I look at spectrum arbitrage, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the value is in the major cities. But this can’t be a network that’s only in place in the major cities,” he said. “This has to be a network that serves the nation and the territories and is a geographic-based network, not a population-based network.”

Nevertheless, D’Agostino said that spectrum arbitrage could be one way for FirstNet to increase the value of its excess network capacity. He added that partnership deals represent another possible strategy. While these partnerships could come “in all shapes and sizes,” D’Agostino said that FirstNet would like to pilot partnerships with the following three groups: (1) Carriers looking for additional capacity; (2) Financial organizations that would bring alternatives to the table; and (3) States, smaller rural agencies and utilities that might bring needed assets to the table.

D’Agostino said that a common set of criteria should be used when evaluating potential partnerships.

“First and foremost, does it protect public safety’s interest in the long run?” he said. “Second, can we easily integrate and operate with these partners? And, third, at the end of the day, are we all comfortable with the financial terms and commercial terms associated with the kinds of deals that are being proposed?”

Regardless of which business-model strategies FirstNet ultimately implements, it is crucial that the services offered are affordable to public safety while meeting the mission-critical needs of first responders. That’s because there is no requirement that first-responder entities must subscribe to the network, so FirstNet will have to compete for customers.

It would be an understatement to describe this as a challenging task, but it is important that FirstNet succeed. Thankfully, Ginn’s testimony to Congress indicates that he understands how crucial it is that the broadband system meets all of these goals.

“If you take nothing else away from here, you need to understand that I understand that, if you don’t satisfy your customers, you don’t have a business,” Ginn said.