pdvWireless announces bid for FirstNet, belief that FCC will release NOI on 900 MHz broadband proposal

Officials for pdvWireless this week confirmed the company’s much-rumored bid to build a nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) for FirstNet and expressed “frustration and disappointment” with the FCC regarding a proceeding centered around a pdvWireless proposal to transform 900 MHz LMR spectrum to broadband use.

“We have the pleasure of announcing that we assembled a consortium of world-class companies, with recognized expertise in the critical areas needed, to build and operate a public-safety broadband network,” pdvWireless Vice Chairman Morgan O’Brien said during the pdvWireless fourth-quarter conference call on Monday. “We filed, on behalf of that consortium, a response to the FirstNet RFP [request for proposals] by the May 31 deadline.”

The notion that pdvWireless would lead an offeror team to submit a proposal to build and maintain the much-anticipated FirstNet system has been a source of industry speculation for several months. With its announcement, pdvWireless is the second entity to confirm publicly that it has submitted a bid; last week, Rivada Networks announced the establishment of Rivada Mercury as the name of its offeror team for its FirstNet proposal.

Unlike Rivada Mercury, pdvWireless said it has signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with each of its consortium members and does not plan to name them, O’Brien said.

“Given that this is a competitive government RFP process that is governed by confidentiality restrictions, we do not intend to provide interim updates,” O’Brien said.

“At the moment, we see consider this to be something where there’s a competitive advantage to just stay quietly in the process we’re in with the RFP and restrict this to just answering the questions and participating in the process with FirstNet and their contracting office.”

Early this year, AT&T publicly announced its intention to lead an offeror group that would submit a FirstNet bid. Multiple industry sources have confirmed that an AT&T-led team bid on the massive public-safety project, but the carrier has not made any public statements on the matter. Verizon and Motorola Solutions also are rumored to be part of FirstNet bids, but industry sources are not certain whether those companies are seeking to be prime contractors or are participating as members of offeror teams.

In addition to the FirstNet announcement, pdvWireless officials provided an update to the company’s attempt to get FCC approval for a proposal to transition 900 MHz LMR spectrum to a contiguous 3×3 MHz swath that could support deployment of a broadband technology, probably LTE. The pdvWireless plan is to deploy customized private LTE systems for critical-infrastructure customers like utilities that guaranteed prioritized access.

Although the FCC has not announced any decision about the pdvWireless proposal since it was submitted more than a year ago, pdvWireless CEO and President John Pescatore expressed “frustration and disappointment with the process, as we now believe the next step at the FCC will be a notice of inquiry, or NOI.” Officials for pdvWireless have hoped that the FCC would issue a rulemaking in the proceeding, which would provide the company with greater clarity as it makes business plans for the future.

“We believe the FCC will issue a notice of inquiry,” Pescatore said during the conference call. “This would be an additional step in our regulatory process, but it doesn’t change our objectives.”