FirstNet draft state plans expected to be delivered around June 19, AT&T exec says

FirstNet plans to deliver draft state plans depicting the public-safety LTE deployment plans for each U.S. state and territory as part of contractor AT&T’s nationwide Band 14 700 MHz buildout on June 19, “give or take a day,” an AT&T executive said yesterday during a conference.

John Donovan, AT&T’s chief strategy officer and group president for the carrier’s technology and operations unit, made the statement during a “fireside chat” with interviewer Colby Synesael at the Cowen and Company Technology, Media and Telecom conference in New York City.

During the first half of the interview, Synesael asked Donovan a number of FirstNet-related questions, including a brief exchange that addressed the issuance of draft state plans.

“I believe you’ll be posting the plans in June,” Synesael said. “I think they go out to the governors June 19 …”

Donovan interjected, “Give or take a day.”

FirstNet and AT&T officials previously have stated that draft state plans would be released in June, and a public-safety representative also told IWCE’s Urgent Communications that June 19 is the target date for the release of draft state plans.

Only a group of selected officials in each state will be able to view the entire contents of the draft state plans. Presumably, that group will include individuals tasked with helping prepare the governor to decide whether to accept the state plan or pursue the “opt-out” alternative, which would require the state to build the radio access network (RAN) within its borders. A FirstNet spokesman confirmed that draft state plans will be distributed to each of the 56 states and territories—including Mississippi, which is the only state that did not participate in several key elements of the consultation process.

State officials will be given an opportunity to review the draft state plans and offer possible alterations, according to FirstNet officials. However, FirstNet officials have stressed publicly that this state review process is not designed as an opportunity to make wholesale network changes that could negatively impact fundamental aspects of the winning AT&T bid.

“After they release their draft plan, I’m not sure that there’s a commitment on their part to majorly change anything,” Curtis Wood, undersecretary for forensic science and technology in the Massachusetts executive office of public safety and security, said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “I suspect that draft plan will be very close to a final plan presented to the state—that’s my guess.

“If we get that draft plan, and it’s so far off or it’s not satisfactory to us, then we’ll make a decision to go forth and bring in another vendor. During that process—at some point—we would provide that vendor we select with as much information as we could from the draft state plan or the final state plan, depending on the timing. I think everything really hinges on this first draft state plan, in terms of where they’re coming in at.”

After receiving input from all 56 states and territories, FirstNet and AT&T will prepare final state plans, which are slated to be delivered simultaneously to all states and territories, probably during the latter half of September. All governors are expected to consider these final state plans during a 90-day decision period, during which governors must choose whether to accept the FirstNet state plan or pursue the “opt-out” alternative.

Governors that take no action during the 90-day period effectively will be accepting the FirstNet state plan, according to a FirstNet legal interpretation.