Wisconsin becomes 35th state to make FirstNet ‘opt-in’ announcement

Meanwhile, the District of Columbia and the following eight states have issued an RFP seeking an alternative RAN vendor without having their governors announce an “opt-in/opt-out” decision to date: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.

At the time of the Wisconsin announcement, governors in only six states had not announced an “opt-in/opt-out” decision or had state officials issue an RFP seeking a potential alternative RAN vendor: Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New York, North Dakota and South Dakota. However, South Dakota made its “opt-in” announcement within minutes of the Wisconsin announcement.

AT&T officials have stated that deployment of LTE on the 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum licensed to FirstNet could begin as early as this year in certain parts of the country. Public-safety agencies in “opt-in” states are eligible to sign FirstNet contracts first responders preemptive a access across AT&T’s commercial networks immediately.

AT&T will build the FirstNet RAN in “opt-in” states or territories at no cost to each jurisdiction, although local public-safety entities will be responsible for paying subscription costs and end-user device expenses. However, the law that established FirstNet stipulates that individual public-safety agencies and potential first-responder users are not required to subscribe to the FirstNet service.

"We applaud Gov. Walker for opting in to FirstNet and giving Wisconsin's public safety community the cutting-edge technologies they need to help protect and save lives," Scott T. VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin, said in a prepared statement. "AT&T is honored to work with the state to bring FirstNet to Wisconsin, and to give our first responders the innovative communication tools they deserve."