City leaders predict ‘real bad trouble’ if FirstNet isn’t reauthorized
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By
Chris Teale
The reauthorization push ahead of the February deadline arrived at a National League of Cities conference this week as the effort moves through Congress.
City leaders said during a conference this week that if Congress fails to renew the authority of a dedicated public safety communications network, they risk “real bad trouble.”
Speaking to the press at the National League of Cities’ Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C., NLC CEO Clarence Anthony called on elected officials to reauthorize the First Responder Network Authority, the dedicated communications network known as FirstNet, which expires in Feb. 2027.
“Where there's more disasters and the need for disaster relief support, the first thing you have to do is to be able to have the ability to communicate across your departments, but more importantly than that, other agencies, whether it's [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], whether it's your state emergency management system, whether it's your airports, your transit systems, all of those things need to be able to work together,” Anthony said. “What we're seeing is that we need FirstNet to be reauthorized, because if it is not, and there is an occurrence that happens in a region, we're going to be in real bad trouble.”
Since the reauthorization effort hit Congress earlier this year, lawmakers have made progress on a bill, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology voted to advance it to the full committee, which has yet to act.
That legislation would reauthorize the FirstNet authority until September 2037 and would give the National Telecommunications and Information Administration approval of many actions the authority could take. The authority would also have an associate administrator appointed by the NTIA administrator to manage staff, liaise with the agency and have other duties. NTIA would also be required to submit annual reports to Congress on cybersecurity and adoption rates and brief the two congressional committees with jurisdiction.
“While a lot has been done to stand up this first-of-its-kind public safety communications network, there is more work to do to ensure the promise of FirstNet is fulfilled,” Rep. Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the subcommittee, said in a statement at the time. “[The] reforms included in the legislation before us today are intended to ensure that FirstNet delivers a reliable, interoperable communications network to our first responders and the FirstNet Authority acts in the best interests of the public safety community it serves.”
A slew of public safety, law enforcement and first responder agencies, estimated to be more than 70 associations and organizations that represent more than 5 million first responders nationwide, have called for FirstNet’s authority to be renewed.
A recent white paper from the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association and the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance argued that this reauthorization provides a “critical opportunity” for more “clarity, accountability and momentum” for FirstNet. The groups called for reauthorization legislation to reaffirm the FirstNet board’s authority and to grant it autonomy within NTIA.
The white paper also called for the board’s composition to be strengthened to clarify leadership qualifications, and ensure “strong public safety, geographic, rural, and technical representation.” It also urged revenues raised from the program to be reinvested in the FirstNet network and its technology, and it said the program’s greatest value is its spectrum.
“Reauthorization offers Congress a clear opportunity to reaffirm its original vision,” the white paper says. “By restoring the Board’s statutory authority, prohibiting interference in Board-approved decisions, strengthening reinvestment protections, and preserving the autonomy that made FirstNet work, Congress can ensure the network continues to serve first responders effectively and sustainably.”
AT&T, which won the contract in 2017 to build out the FirstNet network as a public-private partnership, said in a fact sheet distributed to attendees at the NLC conference that around 31,000 public safety agencies and organizations are now subscribed, with around 3 million square miles of coverage.
And it said there is plenty more to do. In the coming decade, the fact sheet said the FirstNet Authority will direct $8 billion in reinvestment in 5G, innovative public safety technology and coverage, with a focus on rural, Tribal and territorial areas. AT&T said it expects to spend $18 billion in sustainability payments to the authority in return for secondary access to the spectrum it holds.
Scott Agnew, president of FirstNet and public sector mobility at AT&T, said in an interview on stage at the conference that reauthorization is necessary due to the network’s “commitment to public safety,” which he warned “goes away” in February without being reupped. Growing it further is key for future success, he said.
“I think the important thing is no first responders are left behind,” Agnew said. “That means Tribal, urban, rural, U.S. territories all get coverage, and everybody has equivalent voice to build out the network. I think that is so important because if a carrier were just to build, where would we build? Where we made the most money. When you build it with public safety in mind it's where first responders need coverage.”