Former FirstNet Authority Official Slams Verizon's Approach to Public Safety
Jeff Johnson, the former vice chair of the FirstNet Authority board, on Sunday criticized Verizon’s approach to offering service to public safety agencies. In a LinkedIn post, he told new Verizon CEO Dan Schulman to “stop trying to harm public safety’s network, FirstNet through your DC lobbyists and consultants.” His comments come as Congress hears calls to end AT&T’s ties to FirstNet (see 2509250060).
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“It seems that if you wanted to win public safety as a customer … drum roll please … simply give them something better,” said Johnson, who's also a retired fire chief. “Nobody on FirstNet is required to be there … they chose it! You and I both know why, it’s actually better for their uses or they wouldn’t have voted with their feet.” Johnson added that public safety agencies are smart consumers and won’t be fooled by “slick ads.”