AT&T Says FirstNet Won't Throttle Public Safety Agencies
PHILADELPHIA -- Verizon throttling of Santa Clara County firefighters shows “one of the reasons FirstNet is here,” said AT&T Director-FirstNet Strategy and Policy Ryan Burchnell Wednesday at the NATOA conference. Burchnell pitched FirstNet to attendees as AT&T works to sign up local agencies. Meanwhile, local officials and attorneys continued to sound the alarm about imminent federal and state actions to ease 5G small-cells deployments by pre-empting local authority in the right of way (ROW).
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The Verizon incident is the latest of “historical issues” with commercial carriers treating first responders “like any other customer,” which led to Congress establishing FirstNet, Burchnell said. “There is not throttling for FirstNet customers on the FirstNet network … because that is a requirement of the public safety community.” Verizon says its policy isn’t to throttle public safety but customer service made a mistake, and the carrier is revising its public safety plan so it won’t happen again (see 1808240039). The carrier didn’t comment.
While important to review technical details of what happened, the Santa Clara incident should remind decision-makers it’s easy for competitors to promise they have the same capabilities as FirstNet, but that might not be the reality, said CTC Technology and Energy CEO Andrew Afflerbach. Verizon’s claim that firefighters had the incorrect plan should be motivation to check terms of current agreements with carriers, said Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications Systems Authority General Manager Barry Fraser. With AT&T and competitors aggressively marketing public safety products, “it’s a good time to buy services” and review existing contracts, Fraser said.
FirstNet “is what public safety asked for,” but “without that public safety participation in this network, it won’t be all that it can be for public safety,” Burchnell said. FirstNet signed up more than 2,500 public safety agencies, up from 1,500 reported in July, AT&T said Wednesday. There are about 60,000 agencies nationwide, FirstNet Senior Adviser Bill Schrier estimated. “We’re less than year into this build,” with permitting a big part of current work, and AT&T is committed to reaching rural areas where there may not be many consumers but where public safety regularly operates, Burchnell said.
On local fears that AT&T would use FirstNet to push wireless applications through governments, Burchnell said public safety wants more coverage, so “absolutely we’re going to be requesting the ability to build those sites there on behalf of public safety.” NTIA and FirstNet won’t certify AT&T competitors’ networks, though the National Institute of Science and Technology certifies devices that work on FirstNet, said Schrier.
Pre-emption Alert
Local governments should worry about a wireless item at the FCC set for circulation next week for the Sept. 26 meeting, said Best Best attorney Gerard Lederer. Expect the FCC to flesh out legal authority it believes it has to tackle perceived local barriers, said Baller Stokes attorney Sean Stokes.
Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee work is informing many FCC policies on the way, said BDAC member David Young, ROW manager in Lincoln, Nebraska. The rates-and-fees groups work probably will lead to the FCC issuing “a range of acceptable fees,” and the local model code will be released as a standard for local laws, he said. BDAC’s state code won’t override previously enacted state laws, Young said. But industry probably will pitch the code as a consensus proposal to every state legislature yet to pass a small-cells bill, said Stokes. The FCC may go beyond the BDAC’s recommendations in some areas, he warned.
Time may be running out this year for Congress to pass its small-cells bill (S-3157) since there isn’t a House companion and no hearing is scheduled, but local governments shouldn’t relax yet, Lederer said. It probably will be back next year if it doesn’t pass in 2018, he said. Don’t count on the bill overriding state laws with more favorable terms to local government; it’s more likely to give a “ceiling” that allows more restrictive state rules, panelists said. States are "really where you need to protect yourself," Lederer said.
Tensions rose when Dense Networks Executive Director Peter Murray claimed the panel was overly negative about industry, failing to discuss successful collaboration stories. “Isn’t 5G in the universe a positive thing and networks positive for education and public safety?” he inquired. “How is the threat to the United States of America networks?” Panelists and several local officials in the audience said there are good local-industry partnerships. Local attorney Ken Fellman said localities and industry found some compromise with Colorado’s small-cells law, but they objected to state and federal pre-emption that may void such work.