FirstNet Success Based on Quick Start Using AT&T Network, IEEE Told
FirstNet has been able to build, with AT&T, a $40 billion network based on an initial $7 billion investment, said Richard Reed, FirstNet Authority network management officer, Tuesday at the hybrid in-person and virtual IEEE Advances in Public Safety Technology Workshop. The workshop is part of a new IEEE initiative on public safety technology.
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“Through our partnership with AT&T we were able to leverage a tremendous amount of infrastructure that AT&T brought to the table,” Reed said. “AT&T said, ‘OK, FirstNet, we know it’s going to take time to build Band 14 across the nation, so we’re going to give you a differentiated service … on all of our LTE infrastructure, essentially allowing us to go to market as soon as we get the core infrastructure up.'” FirstNet was able to start building a customer base and “building trust with public safety” while the network was being launched, he said.
Band 14, the FirstNet band, covers 2.8 million square miles, Reed said. “We’ve achieved well over 95% of our coverage commitment that we’ve made to the states through our state plans,” he said. FirstNet has more than 150 “deployables” it can use to fill in gaps, with several hundred more available from AT&T, he said.
FirstNet now has more than 4 million subscribers, Reed said: “That means public safety is adopting our network, they’re staying on our network, and they’re leveraging our network. They’re taking advantage of the dedicated spectrum that we provide with Band 14.”
The Spectrum Act of 2012, which created FirstNet, required the authority to ask public agencies what they need, Reed said. “This became a key success metric for us, and it carries on until today,” he said. FirstNet’s network has also had to improve over time, he said. “Networks don’t stand still. We have to be competitive. Many of you may know … that we are a competitive organization. We don’t get tax dollars.”
Other speakers noted the impact of global warming on public safety. “If we look on the horizon, we see that there are many changes that affect us,” said Narendra Mangra, principal at GlobeNet. Wildfire season is now “arguably year round,” he said. Climate change means everything from more storms to food shortages that have implications for public safety, he said.
The IEEE public safety technology initiative is looking at blockchain technology, biotechnology, communications and networking, ethics and policy development, intelligent reality, smart algorithms, software security and privacy and transportation, among other areas, Mangra said. Public safety faces a “diverse set of problems,” he said.
Better communications is critical to improving public safety, said Luis Kun, president-elect of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology. When water in the Gulf of Mexico turns red, some ask whether you can swim there and others whether you can still eat the fish, he said. “These are two different groups -- one that deals with food security, the other with the environment,” he said: “If those two groups don’t talk to each other, you will not solve the problem.”
Much research focuses on disasters that have caused the loss of life and property, but cybersecurity attacks also pose a risk, especially to cities, said Eman Hammad, assistant professor-computer science and information systems at Texas A&M University. “How do we build safety systems across people and process and technology to make sure they’re available when needed?” she asked. We have seen bad actors “trying to hijack services such as policing, such as 911 calls,” she said: “That interference with those systems is … significant.”