Federal Users Still Resistant to FirstNet, Public Safety Advisory Group Told

Federal users are still showing some reluctance to work with FirstNet, Kraig Moise, chairman of the Public Safety Advisory Committee’s Federal Working Group, told the full group Thursday. The committee represents public safety interests. FirstNet is becoming a reality, said FirstNet Vice Chairman Jeff Johnson at the PSAC meeting. Johnson said he would be surprised if in the end every state and territory doesn’t opt in. The meeting was livestreamed from San Antonio. Meanwhile, states are considering their next move.

For federal law enforcement, the communications culture is built around traditional land-mobile radio (LMR), Moise said. “They’re planting their feet on LMR and LMR is going to be what we’re going to use,” he said. “If you think LMR is the future, I’d like to introduce you to people who bought Kodak stock.” Moise said “times are a changing” and federal law enforcement needs to keep up rather than play catch-up once FirstNet is launched.

“This is worldwide a game changer for public safety to bring mission-critical broadband,” Johnson said. “A lot of people said this couldn’t be done.” FirstNet always had doubters, Johnson said. People said “it’s impossible. They will never put chipsets in devices,” he said. “You will never get spectrum and the money. You’ll never be allowed to enterprise it. Customers won’t come to the table.”

Todd Early, chairman of PSAC’s Early Builder Working Group, said some of the early projects are gaining momentum. At the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS), staff “have begun training on various network elements in preparation for assuming full control of the network operations,” he said. LA-RICS is also working with the city of Inglewood, California, on installations at the new NFL stadium.

New Jersey’s JerseyNet tested its system at a recent air show and is doing “drive testing” along the Route 21 corridor, Early said. The Texas Public Safety Broadband Program ran tests at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, he said. They “built off lessons learned from the previous year.” The Texas network also got an important test in February at the Super Bowl in Houston, Early said. “They deployed approximately 200 devices at the Super Bowl,” he said. There was “a lot of success and a lot of lessons learned for public safety.” Lots of work remains on how to use broadband in public safety networks, he said.

Meanwhile, with the FCC to vote June 22 on state opt-out rules, Southern Linc representatives told Public Safety Bureau staff the FCC should ignore a matrix recently submitted by FirstNet (see 1706060049). “FirstNet has provided no context for this spreadsheet and the document itself references numerous other documents that, in turn, refer to voluminous and highly technical standards documents and industry best-practices criteria,” Southern Linc said in a filing in docket 16-269. “Neither the public, nor the Commission has had a meaningful opportunity to review FirstNet’s ‘interoperability compliance matrix’ or the highly technical materials the submission incorporates by reference.” The matrix has no place in the FCC’s eventual order, the carrier said.

States Mull Options

With FirstNet state plans imminent, states soliciting alternative radio-access network (RAN) plans continue to collect information and assess their options, state officials said this week. More than 10 states have sought information or proposals about alternative plans. At a state plans “kickoff” last week, an AT&T official said states appeared to be warming to the FirstNet/AT&T plans as all their questions are being answered (see 1706080063).

FirstNet expects to deliver the AT&T state plans “around June 19,” a FirstNet spokeswoman said Thursday. Governors will have 90 days to opt out, then 180 days to submit an alternative RAN plan for FCC and NTIA approval, under the statute that created FirstNet. The National Governors Association “will continue providing states as much information as possible about the implications of opting in/out to ensure governors make an informed decision and the best decision for their states,” an NGA spokeswoman said.

“Colorado continues to analyze both the opt-in and opt-out scenarios for the implementation of the National Public Safety Broadband Network,” emailed Brian Shepherd, single point of contact. Colorado got responses to a request for proposals last month. “Our objective is to help Colorado's first responder community understand the options and provide them with as much information as possible to help them make a collective recommendation on the ultimate path for the network. AT&T has provided additional information on their plan which has helped the FirstNet Colorado team in this process.”

Illinois hasn’t seen a plan, but FirstNet’s preparation work “to let us know what is going to be in the plan is reassuring us that we have enough info to make an informed decision,” emailed Illinois Statewide Interoperability Coordinator Joe Galvin. Illinois got responses to a request for information. “Having priority over the entire lot of spectrum [AT&T] owns was big news and encouraging. But I will reserve any judgment until I see the actual plan.”

Florida continues to “collect information, feedback and expectations from the public safety community” and “information from the vendor community as a tool to assist us in evaluating and comparing the state plan that is provided to us by FirstNet,” said a Florida Department of Management Services spokeswoman. Florida got responses to an RFI. “Florida is not anticipated to make a decision until later on this year.”

Arizona found presentations at the FirstNet kickoff in Dallas “to be very informative and the interaction with FirstNet and AT&T personnel to be beneficial,” emailed Arizona Department of Public Safety Assistant Director-Technical Services Division Tim Chung. But the state will reserve judgment on whether the FirstNet state plan meets its needs until it’s received and evaluated, he said.

Wanting "to continue our due diligence in research and review all alternatives available,” Rhode Island released an RFP earlier this week (see 1706140047), said Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency External Affairs Officer Armand Randolph. The state had no issues with the consultation process and hopes to review FirstNet plans as scheduled, he emailed: “We have no reason to believe we will not get a good plan from AT&T/FirstNet.”