FirstNet education is crucial, but it does not lend itself to sound bites, elevator pitches

Within several weeks, we should know which bidding team has been awarded the FirstNet contract to build and operate a nationwide public-safety broadband network that will be designed to carry some of the country’s most sensitive communications for the next 25 years.

And six months after that, the governor in every state and territory will begin to make the significant decision whether to accept the FirstNet state plan to deploy the network within the jurisdiction or “opt out” and build the radio access network (RAN) on its own. A good choice should lead to affordable broadband coverage for the state’s first responders; a bad choice could leave public safety in the state with poor communications and taxpayers saddled with debt that could approach pension-crisis levels.

But mention FirstNet to almost any citizen—and far too many state and local officials—and the common response is, “What’s that?” Based on a cursory search-engine investigation, no gubernatorial candidates running in the November elections have even mentioned FirstNet on the campaign trail, even though FirstNet and the upcoming opt-out decision could have significant consequences on public safety, state and local finances, and potentially competitive landscape of telecommunications, depending on the business model implemented in the state.

It may be that the candidates don’t know or don’t care. It may be that they know and care, but they can’t think of any election that really turned on a candidates’ platform for public-safety communications.

Or, they may have reached another realization: No matter how significant it may be, explaining a position on FirstNet takes time—something candidates don’t have in an environment where success or failure is determined by sound bites of less than 15 seconds.

In the sales world, the all-important messaging is called an “elevator pitch”—a clear and succinct description of an offering or initiative in less than 60 seconds, or the time you might spend with someone while sharing an elevator.

One big problem is that it’s difficult to make an elevator pitch about FirstNet, unless you’re in a towering skyscraper in an elevator that stops at every floor and maybe gets stuck a couple of time. That’s because FirstNet is hard and has many layers.

FirstNet is a nationwide broadband network for first responders—that part is fairly simple. But going much beyond that highest-level description is difficult to do quickly, because so much of this arrangement is unprecedented and it may be some time until there are definitive answers to even the most basic questions from a listener.

Prioritized and preemptive access to a reliable network is critical to public safety, but explaining why first responders cannot simply “use a commercial network like everyone else” is never a brief conversation, in my experience.

Similarly, the explanation that the states’ opt-out alternative actually does not allow them to opt out of FirstNet—it’s actually more of a “do-it-yourself” choice, but the state doesn’t get to keep any savings, under FirstNet’s legal interpretation—is often a perplexing and lengthy discussion.