FirstNet tops 6.7 million connections, 29.5K agencies, AT&T reportsFirstNet tops 6.7 million connections, 29.5K agencies, AT&T reports

FirstNet supports more than 6.7 million connections for more than 29,500 public-safety agencies as of the end of 2024, according to information released by AT&T, the contractor of the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) for the FirstNet Authority.

“FirstNet continues to be a consistent growth category for us, with wireless connections up about 300,000 sequentially,” AT&T CFO and Senior Executive Vice President Pascal Desroches said yesterday during the carrier’s fourth-quarter earnings conference with financial analysts.

Indeed, FirstNet connections increased to more than 6.7 million from the 6.4 million connections reported during the third quarter. The reported 29,500-plus agencies subscribed at the end of 2024 is an approximately 500-agency increase during the final quarter of the year.

FirstNet connections increased about 1.2 million during 2024 when compared to the 5.5 million total reported by at the end of 2023. This marks the fourth consecutive year that AT&T has claimed at least 1 million additions to the total of FirstNet connections.

AT&T has reported the FirstNet connections and agencies figures on a quarterly basis for several years, but the telecom giant not provided a breakdown about how many of the FirstNet connections are for smartphones and laptops used directly by first responders, as opposed to routers, IoT sensors and other devices.

This growth report for FirstNet comes a year after the FirstNet Authority announced that its officials had validated AT&T’s completion of all tasks in the initial five-year buildout of the NPSBN operating on 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum licensed to the FirstNet Authority. By completing these tasks on time and on budget in March 2023, AT&T received the full $6.5 billion available—money generated via FCC spectrum auctions—under the 25-year deal signed with the FirstNet Authority in March 2017.

In February 2024, the FirstNet Authority board committed to investing more than $8 billion—funds from annual AT&T payments to the FirstNet Authority—into NPSBN enhancements. Later that month, AT&T suffered a nationwide outage on Feb. 22 that disabled FirstNet services for less than three hours.

In 2025 and 2026, public-safety and industry officials will be monitoring developments in two areas that are crucial for the FirstNet Authority.

Last fall, FCC commissioners unanimously approved rules that effectively would let the FirstNet Authority control usage of 4.9 GHz spectrum through a sharing agreement with a nationwide band manager for the spectrum. However, the band manager still must be selected, and the matter is being challenged by interested parties at the FCC and in court.

FirstNet stakeholders and critics also are expected to follow closely efforts to reauthorize the FirstNet Authority before the February 2027 deadline established in the 2012 legislation that created the FirstNet Authority. Beltway sources believe Congress will take actions that ensure FirstNet services will not be disrupted, but some have indicated that reauthorization might include additional oversight that does not exist under current law.

Meanwhile, AT&T CEO John Stankey began the quarterly earnings conference by expressing empathy for those impacted by the massive wildfires in southern California and thanking company employees for their efforts in the difficult environment.

“I’d like to extend my heartfelt sympathies to everyone in Southern California,” Stankey said. “Our thoughts and prayers with all those people whose lives, homes, and families have been deeply impacted by the most destructive wildfires in modern U.S. history.

“In these moments, the importance of connection becomes increasingly apparent. And I’d like to thank our teams for their commitment to keeping customers, communities, and first responders connected in the face of this historic devastation.”