- AT&T was awarded the contract to provide the network for FirstNet, but it’s subject to review
- By law, FirstNet is set to expire in early 2027 unless reauthorized by Congress
- A Senate subcommittee heard testimony from FirstNet supporters – as well as Verizon
Senators kicked off a hearing on the reauthorization of FirstNet on Wednesday by first recognizing the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minnesota.
Senator Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska, announced the purpose of the subcommittee hearing – to evaluate the progress of FirstNet and see where there’s room for improvement. But before witnesses were asked for their testimony, Senator Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, talked about the events happening in Minnesota.
Klobuchar, co-chair of the Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus, said she’s spent a lot of time in the last few weeks with local law enforcement, including the Minneapolis police chief and others, and “it’s become really hard for them to do their normal work.”
Among the tragedies in her state in the past year was the murder of Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman.
“It’s relevant here because there was a manhunt like no other in our state that went on for days and the first responders were able to rely on FirstNet to communicate” and find the suspect before he could go on to kill more people, she said.
FirstNet: How’s it going?
Klobuchar asked Melvin Maier, CEO and executive director of APCO International, what metrics should be used to evaluate the FirstNet network performance and reliability.
“Public safety has to have the tools they need during the crisis,” Maier said, noting that law enforcement officers use uplink out in the field far more than downlink, sending data back to the home office for evaluation.
“We look at cell edge performance on the edges of those maps where they say that there’s coverage,” he said, adding that cybersecurity and backup power are also part of the equation.
FirstNet was created by Congress in response to the failure of communications during the 9-11 attacks on the U.S., and the FirstNet Authority, which oversees FirstNet, ultimately awarded a contract to AT&T, the only mobile carrier that bid for it. AT&T’s award also means it can use FirstNet’s 20 megahertz of 700 MHz spectrum.
AT&T has achieved a great deal, but the scale and importance of the public safety assets it now operates makes stronger oversight more essential than ever, Fischer said.
Of course, AT&T strongly supports reauthorization of FirstNet and would like to see it done well in advance of the February 27, 2027, expiration.
Over the life of its 25-year contract, AT&T expects to invest about $40 billion of its own capital to build and operate FirstNet, said Scott Agnew, president of FirstNet and Public Sector Mobility at AT&T.
He then testified about all the reasons Congress should reauthorize FirstNet, including its performance during a crisis.
Through hurricanes Helene and Milton, for example, FirstNet supported more than 260 emergency requests across multiple states, sustaining public safety communication when commercial networks were strained or unavailable, he said.
“During the assassination attempt at the presidential campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, FirstNet worked as designed,” he added. “While commercial networks experienced congestions, FirstNet delivered uninterrupted service. These are not isolated examples. They are the result of a network built specifically for and by public safety.”
Let’s not forget Verizon, T-Mobile
Before AT&T won the FirstNet contract, Verizon served the lion’s share of public safety agencies in the U.S. It’s a little difficult to compare the two nowadays because they define public safety customers in different ways. But basically, Verizon now says it serves more than 45,000 public safety agencies nationwide whereas AT&T says FirstNet serves nearly 30,600 public safety agencies and direct-support organizations.
Cory Davis, vice president of Verizon Frontline, testified about the importance of providing the public safety community with choices. In written testimony, he said Verizon isn’t saying Congress should displace AT&T as the FirstNet Authority’s contract partner or change the terms under which AT&T uses the 700 MHz public safety spectrum for its own commercial customers.
However, “true resiliency comes from redundancy and allowing first responders to choose communication solutions that meet their needs,” he told lawmakers. “Fostering a vibrant, competitive ecosystem with multiple network vendors is crucial so that if one network faces a challenge, first responders can still communicate.”
T-Mobile didn’t have a representative on the witness list at Wednesday’s hearing, but it’s been in cahoots with Verizon in the sense that they are both advocating for lawmakers to take a closer look at FirstNet and question why FirstNet funds are only going to one network provider when public safety users need more competition, not less.
Multiple SIM cards, routers
At one point during the hearing, Luján asked: If a first responder buys a phone, can they use it on all three networks or do they have to buy a separate phone from all three carriers?
Agnew said the technology exists today where phones can use multiple SIM cards or routers.
“There’s a configuration, but it’s very simple to do and it’s very standard from a public safety perspective to have multiple SIMs within a specific device,” he said.
Is that widely known? Sheriff Michael Adkinson Jr., acting board chair of the FirstNet Authority, said it’s well known – and also that it’s not uncommon for public safety to use multiple lines.
There’s a limited number of public safety agencies in the U.S. and the reality is many organizations use multiple lines based on what’s in their best interest. “You’re never going to hear the [FirstNet] Authority board tell somebody to go away from a service if we’re not able to provide it yet,” he said. “We're getting there, but we're not going to endanger somebody's life by telling you to drop your service.”