AT&T Accuses Rival Carrier of Misleading Public Safety Customers
AT&T’s top FirstNet executive attacked, apparently targeting Verizon, during a meeting of the FirstNet board Thursday, accusing the rival of misleading first responders. Verizon has been actively recruiting public safety customers, seeking to maintain its hold on what has long been a Verizon market (see 1808140036). Chris Sambar, senior vice president-AT&T/FirstNet, didn't mention Verizon by name.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
FirstNet is “the fifth carrier” with a separate network, said Sambar. “I’ve been a little bit disappointed to see one of the other major carriers misleading public safety by saying they have a separate core, when in effect it is actually their commercial core, because there is a significant distinction.” The other carrier produced a black SIM card for its public safety offering, “a marketing gimmick,” Sambar said. “We have a black card SIM because we wanted our sales and service people to know which SIM card they were putting in the device to make sure that the user was on the right network.” Sambar said the actions were “fairly distasteful" and "misleading.”
AT&T is making sure customers understand the difference between the two networks, Sambar said. His advice to first responders is “hold your carrier accountable, make sure you understand the details.” AT&T is also aggressively deploying band 14, the FirstNet band and is about six months ahead of schedule, he said. Users where the band is deployed see faster connection speeds, he said.
Sambar acknowledged some disagreement with the FirstNet team. “We don’t always agree on everything, do we?” he said. “We’re good partners and we’re both here for the same reason.”
“Verizon’s doesn’t need to mislead anyone about our public safety offerings,” a spokesperson said. “We hold a more than 450,000 square mile network coverage advantage over our nearest competitor and have been partners with first responders for decades. … Choice is good for public safety and it’s driving new innovation and investment. And we’re leading the way to 5G, working with technology providers to develop innovative use cases for public safety.”
The board met under new Chairman Edward Horowitz, who replaced Sue Swenson in September (see 1809050052). The meeting's theme was that FirstNet is rolling forward, after years of questions. “We affectionately call this new era FirstNet 2.0,” Horowitz said. “There are thousands of entities that have entered into contracts and more to come.”
It's a time of transition. Top leaders, including Swenson and Vice Chairman Jeff Johnson, announced their departure in August. In October, Edward Parkinson was named from within as acting CEO to replace Mike Poth, who left after three years (see 1810010033).
Horowitz opened the meeting noting how far the network has come since the December board meeting three years ago. Then, the board was putting final touches on the request for proposal, he said. Two years ago, “we were nearing the conclusion process leading to an award,” he said. “Last year at this time, we were biting our nails down to the fingers to figure out what kind of opt-in ratio we would have.”
The focus remains on first responders, Horowitz said. “This is about rapid response, it’s about the ability to communicate,” he said. “It’s about allowing people to do the jobs that they’ve been trained to do and in the end save lives.” AT&T has been very engaged and CEO Randall Stephenson made it a priority for the carrier, Horowitz said. “When it starts at the top of the house, then the whole organization turns, too.”
Evolving to 2.0 means shifting from startup to execution, said Parkinson. He expect a new website in months. The authority plans in 2019 to update its Innovation and Test Lab in Boulder, Colorado, to include an experience center for public safety. The next board meeting is in March in Jackson, Mississippi, said Horowitz.