CERCI and AT&T Disagree on Findings in Commerce OIG Report
The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) this week launched another attack against giving FirstNet effective control of the 4.9 GHz band. AT&T disputed CERCI’s arguments. At the FCC, CERCI filed a recent Commerce Department Office of Inspector…
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General report, which it said found “FirstNet failed in its oversight of AT&T’s compliance with device connection targets for public safety users.” The report said the FirstNet Authority “does not have reasonable assurance that the data AT&T is reporting is accurate and reliable to support the primary program objectives of public safety adoption and use of the network.” That claim points to “a serious failure of FirstNet to meet one of its fundamental responsibilities,” a Tuesday filing in docket 07-100 said. Jim Bugel, AT&T president-FirstNet, said in a statement, “Audits and reviews like these are a routine part of government oversight designed to provide independent perspective on federal entities’ operations.” He added, “No other wireless network is subject to this robust level of scrutiny and accountability, and no other wireless network has delivered more for public safety.” AT&T welcomes the oversight, Bugel said.