FirstNet Working on Road Map, Promises to Be 5G Ready
FirstNet is starting to lay out a road map for the for the future of its network, and is listening closely to advice from first responders, the board was told at its quarterly meeting Wednesday. Staff described the map as a key document to win more public safety participation in the nascent network. Officials said the network must keep up with advances from 5G.
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The authority has been without a CEO since last September, when Mike Poth departed after three years at the helm (see 1809270049). Executive Director Ed Parkinson was acting CEO until May 30. Now, he shares those duties with Chief Technology Officer Jeff Bratcher.
The process of finding a chief “remains a top priority of the board, NTIA and the Department of Commerce,” said board Chairman Edward Horowitz. Until a new CEO is selected, Bratcher is responsible for the budget and executive leadership and Parkinson will oversee daily activities, Horowitz said.
Horowitz said “5G” has “a lot of different routes it might take, but the core has to be ready.” FirstNet will be 5G ready, Parkinson said: “We will be making investments in that space in the coming months and years to ensuring that the system is the very best anywhere in the world for public safety.”
Much discussion was on the map. There's an opportunity to be a “catalyst” for first responders, said Jeremy Zollo, executive director-enterprise strategy. “Public safety being at the center, we have to understand what they need,” Zollo said. “We need to be more proactive and collaborate with them and find a way to speak the same language on what we want to accomplish.”
To start the discussion, staff found a “transparent way” of laying out what the network hopes to accomplish, Zollo said. The map is broken into six topics: the core, coverage and capacity, situational awareness, voice communications, secure information exchanges and user experience, he said. FirstNet sent a survey to more than 250 public safety agencies asking about these areas, which was followed by meetings with more than 600 agencies, Zollo said.
FirstNet contacted federal, tribal, state and local first responders, in cities and rural areas in all U.S. regions, said Dave Buchanan, executive director-public safety advocacy. “We’re going to continue to bring this dialogue to first responders and public safety agencies.”
The board definitely wanted “public safety input into that road map,” said Todd Early, chair of the Public Safety Advisory Committee. “The amount of time that [FirstNet staffers] spend on the road is tremendous.” Early said FirstNet’s tribal working group held its initial meeting in Nashville at the end of April. A big part was discussion of the map, he said.
Officials said that as of May, more than 7,250 agencies are using FirstNet, with more than 600,000 connections, and AT&T remains ahead of schedule in deploying the network. More than 100 devices are available for use on FirstNet, officials said.
Board member Neil Cox, a telecom executive, said it’s good news A&T is moving faster than expected. “This is what public safety fought for, to get this spectrum,” Cox said. The map makes it simple to see “the vision ahead for FirstNet and what this network can do,” he said. “We’ll be 5G ready and 6G ready and 7G ready.”
The meeting was the last for Teri Takai, the longest-serving board member, and the former chief information officer for Michigan and California. Takai’s term expires in August.