AT&T will meet or exceed its one-year deadline to build the core network for a nationwide, high-speed wireless broadband network dedicated to public safety. Mike Poth, Chief Executive Officer of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), told attendees of the Media Institute luncheon last Thursday, that AT&T is on-track to get the core completed by next month, as required by the FirstNet contract.
“We’re focused now on creating infrastructure,” said Poth. The former Arizona police officer turned public safety specialist gave examples of why FirstNet is needed. Last summer in California, he said, at one point there were 300 active fires. Over 20,000 firefighters, not from the state, came to help. Local officials “were literally handing out two-way radios from the backs of trucks because there was no interoperability.” With FirstNet, “If we do this right, firefighters from all over the country can still come to California, but they’ll be able to carry the devices they use on a day-to-day basis,” said Poth.
Describing the more recent Las Vegas shooting in which 58 people died, Poth said multiple agencies were “screaming” over the two-way radios and confusion reigned in the early portions of the event. “They thought they had multiple shooters,” at first, Poth said. There were multiple conflicting reports because the public safety “spectrum was saturated.”
Switching topics to FirstNet personnel, asked if he planned to replace former FirstNet President T.J. Kennedy, who departed at the end of last year, Poth said: “Right now, I’m not planning to fill that spot.” The $50-billion project will be constructed by AT&T and encompass 56 states and territories.
February 20, 2018
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