FirstNet Authority board approves FY 2023 budget of $358 million

FirstNet Authority board members yesterday approved a $358 million budget for fiscal year 2023, with more than half of the money being allocated to investments that would be designed to enhance the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) being built by AT&T.

As in past years, the FirstNet Authority budget for fiscal year 2023—beginning on Oct. 1—has three components: an operational budget, a reserve budget and a reinvestment budget to fund NPSBN enhancements. For the 2023 fiscal year, the budget approved on Wednesday includes $84 million for operations, another $84 million in a reserve fund, and $190 million that can be used to fund system improvements.

“This action paves the way for the FirstNet Authority to continue to deliver and enhance the network that first responders across the country have come to trust and rely on for emergencies and natural disasters,” FirstNet Authority Board Chair Stephen Benjamin said in a prepared statement. “The budget enables the FirstNet Authority to plan for future capabilities on the network, so it evolves with technology and delivers the tools public safety needs to keep themselves and their communities safe.”

Money for FirstNet Authority budget comes from payments made by AT&T to the FirstNet Authority as part of a 25-year contract that was signed in March 2017.

At that time, AT&T was named as the nationwide FirstNet contractor, with the opportunity to earn as much as $6.5 billion in an incentive-laden deal for building the NPSBN within five years of being tasked to start the network deployment in March 2018. More important than the ability to earn $6.5 billion, AT&T gained the right to operate commercially on Band 14 spectrum, as long as public-safety traffic is given priority and preemption.

In return, the FirstNet Authority gets the nationwide public-safety LTE network that is expected to be upgraded to the latest technology—4G, 5G, 6G, etc.—for the next 25 years. In addition, the contract requires AT&T to make annual payments to the FirstNet Authority totaling $18 billion during the 25-year period of the contract, virtually assuring that FirstNet would be a financially self-sustainable program during this time.

Of the $18 billion paid by AT&T, about $3 billion is expected to fund the FirstNet Authority’s operations during the life of the 25-year deal. The other $15 billion is expected to be reinvested into the FirstNet system, such as this in-building initiative.

AT&T’s annual payments to the FirstNet Authority increase throughout the life of the 25-year contract. During the first five years of the deal, AT&T paid $120 million annually to the FirstNet Authority. Fiscal year 2023 marks the first increase, with AT&T being required to pay $195 million.

To date, reinvestment money has been used to expand the FirstNet fleet of deployable assets and to deploy a dedicated FirstNet 5G core. In May, the FirstNet Authority board announced plans to use reinvestment money to fund an in-building initiative that is designed to ensure that public-safety facilities—for example, police headquarters and fire stations—provide FirstNet connectivity when first responders are inside these buildings.

While committing verbally to fund the in-building effort, the FirstNet Authority has not publicly stated how much money would be allocated to the initiative.