Public Safety LTE:

Deployments,
strategies and
challenges
By Kelly Hill
with contribution by Sean Kinney

JUNE 2016

MARCH 2017

Report Sponsors: Featured Analyst:

Gerry Christensen,
Mind Commerce
 FEATURE REPORT
A little more than five years ago,
Congress laid the groundwork for
the creation of a National Public
Safety Broadband Network, set-
ting aside 20 megahertz of 700 MHz
spectrum in Band 14 and $7 billion
from future spectrum auctions in
establishing the board of the First
Responders Network Authority.
The roots of FirstNet, as it is more
commonly known, go back to the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
FirstNet is to be a realization of
a single, national, interoperable
network for emergency commu-
nications to serve both day-to-day
operations and large-scale national
disasters. It is a dream of modern-
izing public safety wireless com-
munications and leveraging the
commercial ecosystems work in de-
veloping devices, applications and
network technologies in order to
put cutting edge capabilities in the
hands of front-line first responders
and incorporate new internet of
things and data analytics.
After five years of board meet-
ings, outreach to public safety
agencies, early builder projects
and initial hires, FirstNet is on the
cusp of awarding the $6.5 billion
network contract to a commercial
partner. The request for proposal
2
was put out early last year and had
been expected to be awarded by
last November. But a lawsuit held
up the long-awaited network and
had to be decided before FirstNet
could move forward.
Whenever the RFP is finally
awarded, FirstNet has already laid
out its expectations and some ini-
tial timelines. Crucially, FirstNet
is required by its founding statute
to be financially self-sustaining
and the business case has yet to be
proved, as do some of the bold plans
for dynamic spectrum sharing that
FirstNet is using as enticement for
a commercial partner, while also
maintaining public safetys desire
for ruthless priority and preemp-
tion, as it has been described.
This report explores the status of
FirstNet and its RFP, its short-term
and long-term plans, and some of
the technical and business chal-
lenges ahead for this ambitious na-
tional project; as well as some of the
broad implications for private LTE
in public safety communications.
FirstNet: Recent events
Last year was a big one for First-
Net. In January 2016, the organiza-
tion released its FP, which is the plan
that outlined an objectives-based
FirstNet Fast Facts
Staff as of February 2017: 202
RFP Released: January 2016
RFP Response Deadline: May 31, 2016
RFP Expected to be Awarded: 2017
Innovation & Test Lab located in Boulder,
Colorado, opened November 2017
Fiscal 2016 operating expenses: $84 million,
including $8.9 in administrative costs
Budget remaining: Approximately $6.7 billion
path for a commercial partner on
the deployment of a nationwide
LTE network for public safety use.
After two extensions to answer
questions and to give vendors more
time to respond, the RFP deadline
closed at the end of May. FirstNet
began evaluating proposals and
eventually excluded two bidders
PdvWireless and Rivada Mercury
from the competitive range of
the proposal. FirstNet had expected
to award the contract by November
of 2016, but Rivada Mercury sued
over its exclusion from the compet-
itive range (see sidebar: 7 things to
know about the Rivada Mercury/
FirstNet lawsuit). Rivada Mer-
cury claimed in court filings that
the competitive range included
only one company. The only pub-
licly known company still in the
running for the contract award is

AT&T, which became an intervenor
in the Rivada Mercury case on the
side of the government, citing the
fact it has a substantial stake in the
outcome of the case.
The FirstNet contract could not
be awarded until the Rivada Mercu-
ry case was resolved and on March
17, the federal judge in the case
ruled in favor of FirstNet, although
as of publication, the RFP has not
been awarded. Rivada Mercury has
said that it is considering its op-
tions for appeal, but also has stated
publicly that FirstNet will be won
or lost at the state level and that it
hopes to win some of the FirstNet
work from states that opt out of a
national build by FirstNets part-
ner. Because the federal judge in
the case did not restrict FirstNet in
its ability to continue preparations
for the network other than actual-
ly awarding the RFP, the organiza-
tion has been able to keep up with
its preparatory and organizational
work for the network. Part of what
FirstNet has been working on out-
side of the RFP includes continuing
to flesh out its plan for how the
network will come together, how it
will support its future commercial
partner in getting comprehensive
network plans to each of the 56
FEATURE REPORT
7 things to know about the Rivada Mercury/
FirstNet lawsuit
1 Rivada Mercury is a company formed by Rivada Networks, Fujitsu, Nokia, Harris and Black & Veatch (each
with a 20% stake) to bid on the $6.5 billion contract to build a nationwide public safety Band 14 LTE network
for the First Responders Network Authority. Other partners include Ericsson and Intel Security. Rivada Mercury
has appointed a number of former Sprint executives to its senior leadership positions, and former Sprint execu-
tive Joseph Euteneur serves as co-CEO with Executive Chairman and co-CEO Declan Ganley of Rivada Networks.
2 Rivada Mercury sued to protest the exclusion of its FirstNet bid from the competitive range for the
FirstNet RFP. Some history on the FirstNet RFP: it was released in January 2016, and the response deadline
was initially set for April, then extended twice to give vendors more time, before wrapping up at the end of
May 2016. FirstNet had hoped to be able to award the contract by November 2016, and notified at least two
bidders Rivada Mercury and PdvWireless in mid-October 2016 that they were out of the running based on
FirstNets evaluation of their bids. On Nov. 21, Rivada Mercury filed a lawsuit in federal court, objecting to its
bid being dropped from consideration.
3 Rivada Mercury sued the Department of the Interior, which issued the network request for proposal on
behalf of FirstNet. Rivada claims it was wrongfully excluded from the competitive range for the network project
and is arguing the court should force FirstNet to include its bid in the competitive range and allow Rivada
Mercury to fully address the areas of concern or weakness that led FirstNet to exclude it in the first place.
Rivada also claimed (in a heavily redacted version of its initial complaint) that based on industry intelligence,
FirstNets competitive range reduced the field to a single remaining competitor.
4 In late November, AT&T joined the lawsuit on the side of the government as a defendant-intervenor a
third party who wasnt involved in the original lawsuit but joins in on one side because it has a stake in
the outcome. In its request to join the case, AT&T stated it is within the competitive range and stands a
substantial chance of receiving the award in this procurement, going on to add: As an offeror whose proposal
was accepted into the competitive range and who is currently seeking to be awarded the contract under this
procurement, AT&T has direct and substantial economic interests in this case.
5 Public safety agencies including the City of Boston and the Bay Area Interoperable Communications Systems
Authority have filed amicus briefs in the case, noting that they and other local government agencies are directly
impacted by the pending bid protest. Until this case is resolved, the award of the contract for the important First
Responder Network Authority is on hold. These agencies have asked the court to consider and decide the case
without any unnecessary delay, so that the important build-out of the FirstNet network can proceed.
6 Most of the documents in the case are sealed or have large amounts of detail redacted, and the hearing
on the case last week was not open to the public in both instances due to the nature of the competitive
concerns involved, because the case centers around the details of Rivada Mercurys bid and how FirstNet
evaluated that bid.
7 On March 17, Judge Elaine Kaplan ruled in favor of the government in the case, which will allow FirstNets
award of the RFP to move forward. Rivada Mercury promptly responded to the loss by saying that it would take
the battle to the states and try to win state-level contracts to build FirstNet-interoperable networks if they opt
out of the national build. FirstNet CEO Mike Poth said in a statement that the ruling is a positive development
for FirstNet and the public safety community. FirstNet intends to move expeditiously to finalize the contract for
the nationwide public safety broadband network.
3
 FEATURE REPORT

states and territories, and laying
the technical groundwork for de-
vices, applications and services for
public safety.
FirstNets path forward: short-term
and long-term plans
The FirstNet boards most recent
meeting was on March 14. Among
the updates the board received
were the most recent information
on the outline for FirstNets first
100 days of operation.
Neil Cox, FirstNet board member
and part of its technology com-
mittee, described that plan to the
board as:
-Within the first 24 hours after
making the award, FirstNet will
immediately notify the state-level
Single Points of Contact and First-
Nets Public Safety Advisory Com-
mittee with initial information
about the partner and the timing
going forward. Cox said FirstNet
plans to schedule a webinar shortly
after the award is made to make
sure everyone hears the most up-
boards December meeting, James
Mitchell, FirstNet director of pro-
gram management, told the board
we envision a one- to two-week
kickoff, I think, because of the mag-
nitude of this work and because of
whats expected moving forward
with a partner from a national per-
spective.
-Begin development of state plans.
FirstNet and the partner must put
together a tailored plan for each of
the 56 states and territories, which
will be the basis for each governors
decision whether to opt in or opt
out of FirstNet a crucial decision
that will impact FirstNets business
case. T.J. Kennedy, president of
FirstNet, told the board during its
March meeting that there are three
initial task orders to move forward
on: launching a web portal so draft
and final state plans can be deliv-
ered via an online interface; de-
velopment of the actual plans; and
design of a core network. FirstNet,
he added, wants to move with ex-
treme urgency to get the plans in
front of public safety agencies and
work with them to make sure plans
are communicated to the right peo-
ple and questions are answered so
we can move forward with the opt-
in/opt-out process.
Source: FirstNet RFP

to-date information with all the in-

formation we can release, what we
know and what we dont.
-A period of kickoff meetings to
talk about the deluge of things
that are going to happen. At the FirstNets Coverage Objective Map.

5
 FEATURE REPORT
FirstNet has spent the past few
years engaging with federal, state
and local first responders to collect
information about their commu-
nications needs and desires as well
as their potential concerns about
the network, and data from those
engagements informed the RFP.
Kennedy told the FirstNet board
that based on FirstNets engage-
ments with the states, FirstNet and
its partner will develop draft plans
and submit those to all of the states
and territories; then work with each
state and territory to make sure the
plan reflects their needs and ad-
dress questions or issues and tweak
the plans accordingly before sub-
mitting final versions of the state
plans to each state and territory.
At that point, the governor of each
state has 90 days to decide whether
to opt in or opt out of FirstNet.
According to the milestones set
out in the RFP, the web interface for
state plan delivery and the comple-
tion and delivery of all of the state
plans is slated to happen within six
months of the award being made.
During testimony last June before
the U.S. Senates Subcommittee on
Communications, Technology, In-
novation and the Internet, FirstNet
CEO Mike Poth said that following
6
the development of draft state
plans, FirstNet plans to provide
each state and territory with an op-
portunity to review and discuss the
draft plans with FirstNet prior to
the delivery of the final plan to the
governor. FirstNet will strive to pro-
vide state plans that are detailed,
accurate and comprehensive, with
the information necessary for each
governor to make an informed de-
cision. Poth added, however, that
states and territories have been
advised that the opportunity to
make wholesale changes to these
plans will be minimal and the time
to review will be constrained due in
part to the Acts directive to speed
deployment of the network.
When Poth testified last summer,
FirstNets goal was to deliver final
state plans to governors in 2017.
That may still be a possibility if the
RFP is awarded soon and the plans
can be accomplished within the six-
month timeframe FirstNet laid out.
Kennedy noted to FirstNet Board
Chairwoman Sue Swenson that the
existing outline is an aggressive
schedule, and we hope it gets even
more aggressive.
Once states have decided whether
to opt in or opt out and even if they
opt out and design their own radio
access network, their networks will
still have to be interoperable with
the rest of the network and use First-
Nets core deployment can begin.
The RFP lays out an ambitious
vision for rolling out the network.
There is a five-phase deployment
plan, with the first phase of mile-
stones targeted for completion
within six months from the award
and providing national coverage
through existing wireless service
via a FirstNet-branded mobile vir-
tual network operator service that
may or may not rely on Band 14,
according to the RFP. The initial
launch of the NPSBN may use ex-
isting wireless services branded
as FirstNet, similar to a [MVNO]
implementation, according to the
RFP. Coverage can be supplemented
with Band 14 deployment and range
extension technologies such as sat-
ellite services and high-power user
equipment for coverage deficien-
cies and public safety emergencies,
the RFP says. The first two phases
of voice and data services over the
first twelve months are not noted as
mission critical but are described
as consumer grade data, video ser-
vice and messaging, as well as voice
and/or voice over LTE coverage in
all of the FirstNet coverage areas.

The first phase will also include
roaming enabled by the partners
roaming agreements, according
to the RFP, with all services to be
available on the roaming network.
Meanwhile, the partner is also to
complete a first phase of quality of
service, priority and preemption us-
ing LTE prioritization capabilities.
Other targets for the first six
months include:
Establishment of a FirstNet
applications store for apps spe-
cific to public safety; an app de-
veloper ecosystem, application
programming interfaces for
certified public safety applica-
tions, and hosted cloud services
for public safety agencies and
app developers.
Enablement of local control for
agencies to manage accounts,
subscriptions, users, groups and
basic profiles.
A public safety entity home
page with information on agen-
cy adoption, the status of the
network and support for local
agency customization.
A portfolio of non-Band 14
devices and a roadmap for
planned Band 14 devices, in-
cluding smartphones, tablets
and modems, in-vehicle routers,
specialized devices, accessories
and machine-to-machine devic-
es; as well as enablement for
bring-your-own-device imple-
mentations.
Core systems that support non-
Band 14 services, including pro-
visioning and management; and
that are hardened and include
basic security and network
monitoring.
A customer relationship man-
agement implementation as
well as sales and billing that
[utilizes] existing business sup-
port systems.
Phase Two milestones are expect-
ed to be complete within 12 months
of the award, and outlines the be-
ginnings of an operational Band 14
network that can interwork with
the systems set up in Phase One.
They include:
Deployment of Band 14 cover-
age in both rural and non-rural
areas, and interworking of Band
14 and non-Band 14 systems and
services. FirstNet expects its
partner to accomplish 20% of its
proposed Band 14 coverage in
both rural and non-rural areas
by 12 months from the award.
A portfolio of Band 14 devices
certified through testing by
FEATURE REPORT
FirstNet .
A core that is online and in use,
and prepared for integration
with any state-deployed RANs
and new site builds.
A second phase of infrastruc-
ture hardening, including a core
with redundancy and failover
capabilities; geo-redundancy
and failover, and geo-diverse
transport to ensure availability.
Security mechanisms for the
app ecosystem.
Accommodating over-the-top
push-to-talk until mission-criti-
cal PTT is available.
Migration of users from exist-
ing wireless systems, operating
support and business support
systems to FirstNet-specific
systems.
There are further targeted mile-
stones outlined to be met at two
years, three years and four years
from the award. Coverage goals are
substantial, particularly in the first
two years: FirstNets target is for
the network partner to achieve 60%
of the contractors proposed overall
Band 14 rural and non-rural coverage
within 24 months of the award date.
By three years, it wants achievement
of 80% of proposed Band 14 coverage;
and 95% Band 14 coverage by the end
7

I dont want just a monthly
status report that says, hey,
everythings great. Thats not
what were looking for. Were
24/7, comprehensive input from
the partner on whats happening
when, and how can we work
together to either solve the
issue or anticipate the next one.
And I think the first 100 days is
going to be all about that.
James Mitchell, FirstNet director of
program management
of year four. FirstNet laid out a tar-
get for a completed network with all
of its objectives satisfied within five
years of the contract being awarded,
and its leadership has made clear it
plans to be deeply involved from day
one in making sure the work gets
done to its satisfaction.
I dont want useless reports,
Mitchell told the FirstNet board
in December. I dont want just a
monthly status report that says,
hey, everythings great. Thats not
what were looking for. Were 24/7,
comprehensive input from the part-
ner on whats happening when, and
how can we work together to ei-
ther solve the issue or anticipate the
next one. And I think the first 100
days is going to be all about that.
Were not doing this in a vacuum
where we pop up 30 days at the end
of the month and say, oh, you didnt
do x, y and z? This is real time, said
Cox. This is full access to the data
on the partners side and on our
side to ensure that we have that
readiness and awareness.
FirstNet has spent five years
trying to ensure that when its
network is deployed it can accom-
plish both its goals and its legal
requirements. More planning still
lies ahead, and vendors and ex-
perts see both technical and busi-
ness challenges that FirstNet and
its commercial partner face.
The challenges ahead
FirstNet and its board have consis-
tently acknowledged that standing
up a new, national LTE network that
FEATURE REPORT
meets the stringent demands of pub-
lic safety is nothing less than a mas-
sive undertaking. The FirstNet orga-
nization from its earliest days has
spent considerable time and effort
trying to assure the first responder
community they have heard and un-
derstood its needs and concerns and
the network will meet their cover-
age and dependability needs despite
some considerable technical and
business challenges.
There are certainly challenges
to standing up a new network and
deploying new technology and new
handset types, said Greg Najjar, a
former Sprint executive now work-
ing Advanced RF Technologies,
which provides indoor coverage
solutions that include public safety
communications support. Every-
thing is going to start from the lab
and go live out in the field.
Perhaps the most intriguing ar-
rangement is that FirstNet is making
dynamic LTE capacity sharing a cen-
terpiece of how it will operate and
ensure a sustainable business model.
Although the FirstNet partner can-
not sublease any of the 20 mega-
hertz of spectrum (10 megahertz
for the uplink, 10 for the downlink)
that is licensed nationally, it can use
that spectrum itself possibly as a
9
 FEATURE REPORT
secondary carrier aggregation band
to boost speed and capacity for the
rest of its network, or to provide
machine-to-machine services that
could be bumped off the network as
needed to clear the way for priori-
tized public safety use.
This will be a unique approach
for a public-private partnership,
with spectrum capacity in the
same band being shared between
a commercial carrier and public
safety, with the understanding
that first responders must always
get priority and the ability to pre-
empt commercial users.
As FirstNet has noted
RFP, its spectrum offers several
The FirstNet early builder project in New Jersey, known as JerseyNet, provided coverage to support first responders
at a pair of August 2015 weekend beach concerts in Atlantic City.
10
unique characteristics including 1)
unencumbered nationwide access
and use that is not limited to a de-
fined geographical area; 2) Part 90
service rules governing the spec-
trum, which enables the use of high-
er powered devices that can improve
coverage; and 3) spectrum that does
not count against the sub-1 GHz spec-
trum screen restrictions for wireless
carriers, enabling offerors to bid on
other spectrum. These unique char-
acteristics provide the contractor a
valuable finite resource that is not
available in any other highly covet-
ed low-band spectrum.
in its However, even with
spectrum being proffered, carriers
such as T-Mobile US have expressed
reservations about the unknowns
in terms of how much of that spec-
trum would be consistently avail-
able to a commercial carrier.
Notably, none of the five First-
Net early builder projects around
the country have utilized a shared
LTE network; all have been pilot
networks where the spectrum was
used only by public safety. First-
Nets Jeff Bratcher said the pri-
ority and preemption capabilities
are already in the LTE standard,
but the commercial market hasnt
pushed their adoption.
valuable Those hooks have been in the
standards, but there hasnt been
a market to drive the use of those
features and public safety is a nat-
ural fit for an LTE-based data net-
work, Bratcher said, adding that
he has seen the features proven out
in lab tests and that vendors have
been working on them for a num-
ber of years.
The issue is, how good is the pre-
emption? said Andy Seybold, a pub-
lic safety network consultant. Sey-
bold said commercial carriers like
Source: ACPD
AT&T and Verizon Communications
currently offer priority access for
an additional charge but that un-
der congested network conditions
 FEATURE REPORT

with many devices demanding ready for nationwide use. However,
access, the network may not even John Giarolo, VP Sales, Americas,
hear a prioritized device. at Cobham Wireless noted Band 14
Preemption is what has to work, is very close to Verizon Wireless
and so far I have yet to see anybody LTE bands for cellular and that
show me that it works and it works this has already been the source of
well enough for public safety, Sey- discussion in some Verizon Wireless
bold said, adding he has been told forums. The filtering capability
those features work, but remains and the network design is going to
skeptical. Until someone walks be very important, Gerajolo said,
into my office with a device where to ensure there isnt interference
I can gain absolute, complete access impacting either network.
to the network no matter what, Hardening. Paul Scutieri, sales
then theres going to be an issue. director in Black & Veatchs tele-
Industry experts also noted that communications business, estimat-
some of the challenges for FirstNet ed the FirstNet network would
and its partner include: require between 30,000 to 50,000
Backhaul. Backhaul for most sites to build what he described
deployables is likely to be satellite as the telecom equivalent of the
based to ensure availability but a Transcontinental Railroad in the
constrained backhaul link will lim- 1800s a system to bind together
it the functionality at the network first responders from coast to
edge, said Joe Boucher, CTO of Mu- coast. Chris Krafft VP of public
tualink, which has been involved safety at Black and Veatchs
in FirstNets early builder projects. telecom opera-tions, added that in
If more functionality is enabled on terms of hard-ening, public
site for deployables so that they are safety may require longer
full systems-on-wheels, then syn- battery back-up times than
chronization between the deploy- commercial carriers do;
ables and the core can get tricky. additional physical site security;
Spectrum. FirstNet has already and cyberse-curity that will likely
made it a priority to fund spectrum go above and beyond what
clearing so the entire 20-megahertz commercial carriers currently
block of spectrum is clear and implement as standard.
Rural deployment. Rural de-
ployment, Scutieri said, is going to
probably need a lot more attention
moving forward. How do you de-ploy to
the rural parts of the coun-try? Thats
going to be a challenge, its going to be
expensive. Its going to be very
equipment demanding. Is it a satellite
solution or more of a terrestrial-based
solution? Scutieri also noted there
could be challeng-es with interference
along the bor-der areas due to activity
in the 700 MHz bands in Canada and
Mexico.
Im bullish on LTE, but there is no
one technology that will address all the
needs, Krafft said, particularly with
new internet of things devic-es
potentially coming into use for public
safety. I think satellite has a role to
play. I think all technologies need to be
brought to bear to sup-port the overall
network.
Devices. User equipment ques-tion
will be another area for devel-opment.
Although device makers such as Sonim
have ruggedized Band 14-capable
devices, initial implementations for
FirstNet may utilize gateway user
equipment with Wi-Fi front-ends so
devices dont need to be specifically
Band 14 supported. But Wi-Fi presents
a particular challenge for achieving
mission-critical reliability.
Sonim has been one of the early

11
 FEATURE REPORT
land-mobile radio and Project 25
communications to LTE; situation-
al awareness; PTT capabilities and
video. Applications, he warned,
have to be just as mission critical as
the rest of the network in terms of
reliability, availability and security.
There are so many agencies that
have applications and have de-
ployed them. Some of them are far-
ther along than others, Martwick
said. When you look at the smart-
phone or Android-type devices they
typically have deployed in com-
mand-level and special units like
narcotics and investigative units or
SWAT or fire inspection. Some agen-
cies have issued the smartphone
Source: Sonim
and tablets in the rank-and-file pa-
trol and fire, but the majority of the
agencies havent.
Testing. While the LTE standards
The Sonim CP7 ruggedized handset is one of the few
devices available with Band 14 support and has been have already furnished some mis-
used by FirstNets early builder projects.
sion-critical capabilities, the tests
providers of Band 14-capable de- for them are not necessarily avail-
vices and deployed by all of the able, according to Bryan Helmick,
early builder projects, according to head of Rohde & Schwarz public
Anthony Martwick, SVP of corpo- safety operations. Even if the net-
rate strategy for public safety at work got deployed today, one of
Sonim, and has been providing de- the depressing things is that mis-
velopers with access to its APIs and sion-critical services are not ready
software development kits. The in standards yet, Helmick said.
main applications that have been The RAN 5 spec is done, but you
used thus far, he said, were linking cant test it. There are no tests yet, so
12
you cant confirm performance of
devices that support mission-criti-
cal PTT, data or video. You have to
have the RAN 5 work done.
The test specs are not yet fin-
ished, he said, but hopefully will be
released with the next LTE update
this coming summer. This includes
device-to-device functionality so
devices can communicate with one
another even if they lose contact
with the cellular network itself
which may easily be an issue for
public safety in situations like a
burning building where the closest
base station has been destroyed.
The LTE ecosystem can bring
down the cost of individual public
safety devices, Helmick added, be-
cause they can be tested through
third-party labs with PCS Type
Certification Review Board certi-
fication, a much broader point of
entry than the current P25 market.
Public safety will probably want
things like audio quality testing
in noisy environments, or tests
above and beyond conformance
similar to what U.S. carriers do
with carrier acceptance testing. A
commercial partner is likely to be
able to offer FirstNet valuable in-
sights on what tests are and arent
necessary or valuable. FirstNets

RFP also establishes a framework
for monitoring and assessing the
performance of the network and
reporting on KPIs. Vijay Kulkarni,
president and CTO of GL Communi-
cations, noted that since emergency
communications are often handled
verbally, voice quality testing and
emulation is a key area particular-
ly in the context of Voice over LTE.
Its just a waiting game until it
all shakes out, Helmick said. But
were ready. Thats the key.
Lessons from early builders: LA-RICS
Over the last few years, FirstNet
has benefitted from insights in a
number of pilot Band 14 projects
called early builders around few years to cover large concerts
the country. Those include Adams
County, Colorado; Harris County,
Texas; the states of New Mexico
and New Jersey; and the Los An-
geles Regional Interoperable Com-
munications System. Each of the
projects was tasked with a specific
area to explore so lessons learned
could ultimately be incorporat-
ed in the larger network: Adams
County focused on being a testbed
for devices and applications; New
Mexico looked at international bor-
der needs and the use of a remote
network core; JerseyNet tested out
the role deployable units will play;
Harris County explored manage-
ment of technology transition to
LTE Band 14, training needs and
data analytics.
In the Los Angeles area, LA-RICS
has put up the largest of the early
builder projects. According to a re-
cent update to FirstNet, LA-RICS
has 77 planned sites with 62 on
air; New Mexico has all seven of its
planned sites on air; New Jersey
has 31 of 32 sites running; Adams commercial carrier airtime. In the
County has 20 sites planned with
19 on-air; and Harris County has 24
of its planned 93 sites up and run-
ning. Small-scale FirstNet systems
have been deployed over the past
stays up.
in Atlantic City; a ski champion-
ship in the Colorado mountains;
and Super Bowl 50.
LA-RICS uses its system on both a
day-to-day basis and for coverage
during special events such as the
Rose Parade. Lt. Judy Anderson of
the Los Angeles County Sheriffs
Department said the department
is in the process of outfitting most
of its patrol vehicles to use the
Band 14 system. Of those currently
equipped, she said, about two-thirds
of the time officers mobile digital
computers in their patrol cars are
FEATURE REPORT
using the Band 14 systems and the
other one-third are operating via a
commercial LTE carrier.
For day-to-day operations, the
users who are using the system
probably dont realize theyre using
it. Thats a good thing, Anderson
said. That means its working as it
should. The times you really notice
it and are thankful that you have
it are during those special events
when you are competing for that
past, she added, officers trying to
use commercial networks during
large events couldnt get cellular
calls or live video streams to go
through but the Band 14 network
LA-RICS is just starting to explore
the applications and use cases it
would like to see supported on the
network. John Radeleff, interim ex-
ecutive director for LA-RICS, said in-
tegration of Band 14 with LMR and
PTT capabilities is particularly im-
portant. Radeleff cited the example
of fire command visual information
on the set-up of a scene being pushed
out so that arriving responders get a
real-time view of what is going on
and the information is available to
everyone at the same time. In an-
other instance, he said, the officers
13
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were able to access a video camera
feed from a business during a bur-
glary and stream it to patrol cars so
they could see the suspect inside in
order to locate and capture. Battal-
ion Chief Kirby Neese of LA County
Fire Department said similar capa-
bilities for other situations such as
being able to access live video feeds
during an incident on a bus, for ex-
ample would give officers a much
better understanding of the situa-
tions they have to deal with. Being
able to send electronic copies of
medical records from ambulances to
hospitals, rather than hard copies, is
another area LA-RICS is working on.
Still, the enthusiasm about First-
Net is tempered by the reality of de-
ployment. Chris Odenthal, program
manager for Jacobs Engineering,
works with LA-RICS on its Band 14
network and said that while LA-
RICS has been able to purchase a
good amount of equipment, large-
scale installation into first respond-
ers vehicle fleets is a time-consum-
ing and expensive process and he
expects such implementation, not
just network builds, to be a chal-
lenge for FirstNet as it tries to bring
customers onto its network. Only so
many vehicles can be taken out of
service at a time, for example, and
agencies often have to plan at least
a year or two in advance due to
budget constraints as well as exist-
ing contract arrangements.
Nevertheless, Radeleff said, hav-
ing a Band 14 public safety network
is allowing LA-RICS to explore new
applications that it could not pre-
viously consider as well as new
devices that are less expensive
than traditional public safety mo-
bile radios and to feel confident
that those systems will work in
situations where the commercial
network is unavailable or in which
agencies would face extra charges
for heavy use of the network, such
as streaming video.
To be able to get beyond that and
just focus on public safety applica-
tions and situational awareness has
proven to be invaluable, Radeleff
said. While he still sees concern
about the cost of FirstNet because
there isnt any firm information
available yet and many first re-
sponders still need to be educated
about the potential use cases for
wireless broadband data, Radeleff
said. its a wonderful time for us
right now. Were starting to think
about what kinds of applications we
can put on there and its driven by
two things: the needs of the users,
FEATURE REPORT
and imagining what we can do.
If you build it, will they come?
Once the state plans have been
issued, the clock starts ticking for
governors to make a decision about
whether they will opt in to First-
Net and let its partner build out
the network in their state over five
years; do nothing, which FirstNet
intends to interpret as a default
opt in; or to opt out.
FirstNet has laid out in its RFP
the mechanism by which it will
meet its statutory requirement to
be a financially self-sustaining or-
ganization: over the 25-year period
of the contract, the commercial
partner must make a series of pay-
ments to FirstNet totaling at least
$5.6 billion, or about $80 million for
the first five years and higher pay-
ments thereafter, with payments
of $430 million per year in the final
four years of the contract. FirstNet
is also required under its founding
law (the Middle Class Tax Relief
and Job Creation Act of 2012) to
invest funds in excess of its over-
head back into the network. The
partner takes on all responsibility
for the operation, maintenance and
upgrades to the network per Third
Generation Partnership Project
15
 FEATURE REPORT

standards, as well as devices, the

app ecosystem and OSS/BSS func-
tions; and it is responsible for devel-
oping its own business case to make
its work profitable.
Seybold said he has done exten-
sive analysis, particularly on the

Source: OhioFirst.Net
question of how to design blanket
coverage for rural America in a
cost-effective way. FirstNets prop-
osition, he said, can be a workable
model if states dont opt out. The
secondary spectrum income reve- Ohios FirstNet program developed a first-person video game as a way to showcase the potential of FirstNet and
public safety broadband. FirstNet has discussed exploring virtual reality for first responder training or augmented
nue is really, really needed to offset reality for incident response.

the sinkholes that FirstNet and

the partner have to build. that it turns out theres a profit. rural areas where the customer base

According to Seybold, over half The federal government was alone is not enough to financially

of the counties and county equiv- right, Seybold continued. When sustain the associated costs. This

alents in the U.S. are what he they passed this law, they realized has led to some rural public safety

calls sinkholes. They dont have that to get this network built would representatives fretting that urban

enough first responders to pay for take all the states working togeth- deployments will be prioritized over

the build and the ongoing expenses er in order to build it. $6.5 billion is their needs. It also could lead states

in the network, Seybold said. And a starter kit for this network its with large first responder popula-

secondly, there is no demand for a $35 to $40 billion network by the tions which present a net gain for

the secondary spectrum because time its done. The only way some- FirstNet to choose to go their own

theyre not metro areas and nor- body can afford to build that is if way with RAN deployment.

mally there is plenty of spectrum there is profit in it over a period of Opting out will be a fraught de-

already available. So that is a build- time, and that requires all of the cision that must be made within

and-lose proposition. The only way states to play nicely with each other 90 days of receiving the final state

that the network provider makes or most of them. plans. Even if a state decides to opt

money is with the metro area de- As with many federal initiatives, out, it still must develop its own

mand for secondary spectrum, the revenue generated from dense- RAN plan within 180 days of opting

which is very large, offsetting the ly populated urban areas will sub- out and its network still has to be

negative costs and then some, so sidize the network deployment in interoperable with the rest of the

16

national network. Also, FirstNet
will have the nationwide core all
systems will be required to use and
to pay for connection into. States
that opt out must also go through
a process with the Federal Commu-
nications Commission to propose
its own RAN plan as well as apply
through the National Telecommu-
nications and Infrastructure Agen-
cy to enter into a spectrum lease
with FirstNet in order to access its
20 megahertz of spectrum.
Some states are already looking
at the opt-out option and Rivada
Networks, after losing its lawsuit
over being ruled out as the na-
tional contract winner, has made
it clear that it hopes to persuade
more of them to consider it as an
alternative to the national build.
On the same day that the court
ruling was issued, Rivada tweeted
that is is ramping up with states
that want option to exercise opt-
out right as well as a press release
in which it stated that it offers a
FirstNet solution to the states.
We are fully prepared to execute
our plan to work with the states
to build state-of-the art, dedicated
networks for Public Safety, said
Joe Euteneuer, co-CEO of Rivada
Networks, in the companys release,
going on to add that FirstNet has
made its choice. Now it is time for
states to make theirs, Euteneuer
said. Those that stand by idly will
be forced into a federal solution
that may or may not suit their
needs or budgets. We look forward
to working with the states to en-
sure that they receive a network
equal to the promise made to public
safety when FirstNet was created.
New Hampshire has already
granted a contract to Rivada Net-
works to develop an alternative
RAN plan for the state to compare
to FirstNets state plan when it
comes in. Its not exactly an opt out,
but it will give the state a chance to
look at another option within the
narrow window when it can. In a
September 2016 newsletter, John
Stevens, New Hampshires state-
wide interoperability coordinator
and single point of contact for
the state, wrote we have provid-
ed to FirstNet extensive data that
would support a statewide build
out, however based on the rural na-
ture of the state we continue to be
concerned that there will be many
areas of the state that will remain
under served.
Stevens went on to note that
with such a tight deadline for
FEATURE REPORT
opt-out states to make a plan and
get FirstNet and FCC approval, it
has long been the understanding
by many that producing such a
plan in 180 days is absolutely im-
practical and unachievable.
So New Hampshire is keeping its
options open with the possibili-
ty that it might choose Rivada as
an opt-out partner. Alabama and
Arizona have also put out RFPs
for alternatives to FirstNet, and
in November, California issued a
request for information proposals
for its own statewide public safe-
ty LTE network.
There is also the fact that First-
Net has set a target for its partner
to achieve 50% of the expected pub-
lic safety subscribers within two
years. Many public safety agencies
already have contracts with, or are
part of municipal contracts with
commercial carriers. So it may take
time for those contracts to come up
for renewal, at which point they
could consider moving to FirstNet
but operators are unlikely to just
let those customers go.
ADRFs Najjar noted it will be in-
teresting to see how commercial
carriers respond to FirstNets mar-
ket entrance. Federal, state and lo-
cal agencies put out large contracts
17
 FEATURE REPORT
for which those operators compete,
and the provider can change but
carriers are unlikely to stand by as
public safety customers leave their
networks for FirstNet.
Theyll drop their prices to stay
in the competitive environment,
Najjar said.
The role of private LTE
Outside of the protracted First-
Net procurement process, the tran-
sition to LTE-based public safety
communications is ongoing--and
expected to continue--albeit in
a more fragmented manner. A
recent analysis by IHS Markit, a
London-based research and anal-
ysis firm, sees private LTE deploy-
ments gaining traction in what it
refers to as critical communica-
tions broadband LTE market.
According to the analysis, the pri-
vate LTE network space will see a
20% compound annual growth rate
from 2015 to 2020. In terms of mon-
etary value of private base station
and device sales, the market was
valued at $1.1 billion in 2015 and
will grow to a little less than $1.5
billion during 2017. By 2020, the
analysis predicts the market will
be worth $2.6 billion. Public safe-
ty, along with security, security,
18
transportation, military, utilities
and industrial segments, will drive
this growth wave. LTE is the pref-
erential technology because its
bandwidth capabilities support in-
creasingly in-demand applications
including detailed mapping func-
tionality and video streaming.
Broadband-capable technologies
can provide these tools because of
their ease of interoperability and
high performance. As a result, the in-
dustry requires broadband-capable
network solutions such as private
LTE or other operating models pos-
sible with commercial and private
LTE, said Jesus Gonzalez, market
analyst for critical communications
at IHS Markit. For critical communi-
cations users today, it is clearer than
ever that LTE is the de facto broad-
band standard, with the option of
private LTE networks a reality.
While private LTE could be a clear
boon to public safety officials, in-
vestment in the technology, as with
many government projects, would
likely be subject to very tight fund-
ing restrictions. In the context of
deploying network infrastructure,
this means officials will need a very
granular understanding of where
networks do and, more important-
ly, do not currently reach. Bryan
Darr, founder, president and CEO
of Mosaik Solutions, which special-
izes in providing network coverage
and experience metrics with visual
representations, made this point
during a smart cities panel discus-
sion at the 2016 HetNet Expo.
One of the most important thing
our society has been driving for
over the last several decades is
improvement in health and safety
of the citizenry, Darr said. Weve
talked a lot...about indoor coverage.
Thats where people spend most
of their time. Making it as easy as
possible for the providers, or for the
building owners as the case may be,
to be able to implement, to be able
to put the infrastructure in place,
to provide full connectivity to as
many square inches of the indoor
area that exists within a city is an
extremely important issue moving
forward for being able to commu-
nicate from the safety and health
devices, or to make a 911 call.
In-building wireless communica-
tions systems are not only import-
ant for people trying to reach public
safety services--estimates suggest
around 80% of mobile traffic comes
from or goes to the inside of a build-
ing--but also for first responders
trying to quickly locate and get to
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 FEATURE REPORT
the location of an emergency.
The emphasis on LTE for public
safety is pervasive in the telecom
ecosystem with everyone from
hardware vendors to chip makers
and test and measurement compa-
nies playing a part. As it relates to
in-building coverage, a number of
vendors typically associated with
distributed antenna systems have
adapted their product lines to meet
the needs of public safety communi-
cations. This creates an interesting
dynamic between building owners
and operators. Basically, if a build-
ing owner invests in a DAS that
also supports public safety commu-
nications, that can be monetized
by the owner by way of services or
applications delivered to tenants.
On the other side of the equation,
if operators--such as a FirstNet car-
rier partner--know which buildings
have indoor coverage, that can re-
duce the capital expense of outdoor
tower construction.
This collective approach to public
safety coverage was addressed by
Greensboro, N.C. Fire Chief Alan
Perdue in a paper by vendor Solid ti-
tled In-building wireless and public
safety imperative. If every stake-
holder is not involved and interest-
ed in the process, Perdue said, the
20
results will continue to be all over
the place. The resulting impact will
be an unnecessary increased cost
to in-building projects in the form
of re-do installations, systems that
do not work as designed and AHJs
denying a certificate of occupancy,
which has a significant impact on
the venue owners...Its about being
out front, engaged and charting
your own course.
And while the current focus is on
starting a large-scale public safety
transition to LTE, industry leaders
are also already looking ahead to
how 5G will change mission critical
communications. In a recent ple-
nary presentation at the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics En-
gineers Wireless Communications
A drone flies above a city. Drones present a new area of exploration for public safety, for situational awareness and
disaster assessment.
and Networking Conference in San
Francisco, California, Matt Grob,
executive vice president and chief
technology officer, Qualcomm Tech-
nologies, Inc., looked into the future
of public safety communications.
This actually happens in South-
ern California where you get fires,
and then the drones come...theyre
public and the public safety folks
cannot respond and its a problem.
In this kind of scenario, these de-
vices are all connected. You can
allocate the resource on demand
for the incumbent, they use it, and
then you can reclaim it back to the
network and the regular users can
use it afterwards. This is actually
a real scenario that theres some
interest in deploying. He said
Source: 123RF Stock Photo

mission critical services will gain
high reliability, low latency, high
availability, with the advent of 5G
New Radio and advanced spectrum
sharing techniques
In addition to the use of drones,
Peter Marx, vice president of ad-
vanced concepts for GE Digital and
former CTO for the city of Los Ange-
les, recently discussed how 5G could
enable the use of augmented reality
for public safety. 5G, he wrote, will
support narrow-band IoT, as well as
very high bandwidth uses like aug-
mented, mixed and virtual reality
without the need for cables. A fire-
fighter may eventually be able to
overlay the blueprint of the build-
ing theyre saving while theyre us-
ing their hands to fight a fire.
FirstNet as a platform for future
innovation
Despite all of the unknowns and
the massive amount of work ahead
to roll out the network, FirstNet
presents the first opportunity the
public safety community has had
to truly explore broadband wireless
capabilities in a network environ-
ment designed for their needs.
The LMR market is very mature,
FirstNets Bratcher said. But we
are providing public safety LTE,
FirstNets RFP outlined 16 objectives: build-
ing, deploying, operating and maintaining
the NPSBN; financial sustainability; first
responder user adoption; device ecosystem;
applications ecosystem; accelerated speed
to market; user service availability; service
capacity; cybersecurity; priority services; in-
tegration of opt-out state RANs; integrating
existing commercial/federal/state/tribal/
local infrastructure to support NPSBN ser-
vices; Lifecycle innovation; program and
business management; customer care and
marketing; and facilitate FirstNets compli-
ance with the act and other laws.
which is a new space for public
safety. We do look to be the leader
in the public safety LTE space and
the broadband data space for LTE
public safety.
Its not just [voice] communica-
tions, said Kulkarni of GL Commu-
nications. VOLTE may be good, but
LTE gives you the ability to commu-
nicate in so many other ways imag-
es, text, video. It gives you complete-
ly new ways of dealing with crises.
The public safety space has been
uniquely difficult to break into
because of its maturity, according
to Brendan Karp, chief of staff for
TechNexus, which recently held a
technology showcase event for pub-
lic safety under the auspices of the
Department of Homeland Security.
FEATURE REPORT
Youve got a supplier base made
up of the traditional suppliers on
the radio side, the body cam side
that have a stranglehold on the
market and arent bringing new
technology in, Karp said. Theyre
developing new things, but not be-
yond their core business. For small-
er sized companies that might be
new to technology or disruptive
communications systems, its tough
for them to break in [to public safe-
ty]. If they have opportunity in in-
dustry or health care, theyre prob-
ably going to tackle that first.
That is in part, he added, because
small companies may not have the
means to put their products in front
of the tens of thousands of public
safety agencies in the country, each
of which has different procurement
processes. Having a large federal
agency like DHS act as a concierge
that brings many agencies and
technology companies together is
helpful, Karp added, as well as the
fact that when tech-savvy leading
departments (many of them in large
metropolitan areas) start adopting
new strategies, others start paying
attention particularly large and
well-regarded departments like
those of New York City.
I think applications are going to
21
 FEATURE REPORT
be huge. Wearables will be a piece
of this as well. Hardware will be
there, but ultimately what youre
going to see is convergence of de-
vices. Responders need lighter gear
and to carry less of it, Karp said.
Gerry Christensen, founder and
CEO of Wireless Waypoint, sees
particular potential for integrating
many data sources, data analytics
and even artificial intelligence, and
pointed to potential applications
such as augmented reality and vir-
tual reality as being possible uses
for FirstNet. Christensen said data
from drones could potentially be
leveraged by FirstNet for first re-
sponders and disaster response, as
well as other IoT applications such
as telemetry, and generally gather-
ing data and performing analytics
on that data to get actionable intel-
ligence in the field.
For some advanced services,
Christensen said, FirstNet present
an opportunity to fast-track them
in rural areas and justify them in
the name of public safety where
you might otherwise not be able to
completely justify them for com-
mercial purposes alone.
Smart city initiatives may get a
similar boost, Christensen added.
Although smart cities typically
22
focus on use cases in metropolitan
areas, there is also a need to have
some continuity between metro
areas and some of the surround-
ing primary roadways and suburbs
that may be served by the same
first responders who serve the met-
ro area itself. Even though youre
not in the city limits per se, even
though youre not taking advan-
tage of some of those smart city ca-
pabilities that are rolling out, you
still have some of the same needs
from a public safety perspective.
You dont want to leave those peo-
ple out, Christensen said.
Christensen did note there are per-
sonal safety apps and public safety
apps and a third area that is a hy-
brid of the two, likely where smart
city information and public safety
may overlap. Christensen expects
to see use cases in the vehicle-to-x
space and vehicle-to-vehicle space
as the return on investment for
companies to support emergency
services is more clear.
I think once the rubber hits the
road, so to speak, there is going to
be a lot of questioning for hey, how
can we get to this data and how
can we make it available to public
safety systems so that they can use
it? The thing is, the data has to be
actionable. A 911 call is actionable,
Christensen added, but complex
data pulled from transportation sys-
tems are likely to need real-time ana-
lytics and even predictive analytics
to be actionable and Christensen
argues that AI is likely to be used to
make decisions at some point in the
future such as in the dispatching of
resources preventively.
I think there is going to be a need
for different levels of AI in aspects
of public safety, Christensen said.
The software systems are going to
have their own embedded AIs.
Christensen said he expects to
see this emerge within the next
decade. Assuming that FirstNets
partner can meet its deployment
timeframe, that equates to about
the first half of its contract.
What we have certainly learned
is that the network is actually not
what people see, said Boucher of
Mutualink. What the first respond-
ers see are the enhanced applica-
tions that it brings them. At the end
of the day its the applications and
the devices and network combina-
tion that enables all of that, and it
has to all come together and have
sufficient value-add.
Where we are is farther than
weve ever been before and thats a

good thing, Boucher added. Now its
so close to fruition and everybody
really feels it coming. Weve been
getting a lot of lessons learned, and I
think that the gist of everything, at
a high level, is that this is going to
be very helpful and its really going
to be great for public safety to have
these applications. And as public
safety sees more and more what is
possible, they are more hungry for
those kind of capabilities.
FirstNet Lab: ready for testing
In a tree-lined office park in Boul-
der, Colorado, FirstNet has estab-
lished its Innovation and Test Lab as
part of its technical headquarters.
After nearly 18 months of develop-
ment, the lab opened in November
ahead of schedule and under bud-
get, according to FirstNet. It is ex-
pected to be both a testing location
for network technologies and appli-
cations and a location where first
responders can come for hands-on
training, for network, application
and device demonstrations and user
evaluations of FirstNet.
The new facility has more than
4,600 square feet of lab space, in-
cluding a Faraday cage for test-
ing devices in isolation and 15
test benches. It has three external
antennas generating Band 14 LTE
network coverage and test equip-
ment allowing devices to be tested
and certified for their capabilities
and ability to meet public safety
performance and reliability needs
before they are accepted into the
FirstNet network, as well as assess
network features and applications
prior to deployment. FirstNets lab
is expected to help speed time-to-
market for devices and network
features, and FirstNet also intends
the facility to serve as a space
where first responders can come
for technology demonstrations and
to try out tools such as augmented
and virtual reality.
The Band 14 coverage supports
Equipment at the FirstNet Innovation and Test Lab in Boulder, Colorado.
FEATURE REPORT
over-the-air testing at FirstNet Lab,
which is less than five miles from
the Public Safety Communications
Research organization housed at
the National Institute for Stan-
dards and Technology in Boulder.
The two organizations work close-
ly together, with PSCR focused on
technology development for public
safety overall as well as for First-
Net specifically.
While the FCCs AWS-3 spectrum
auction funded FirstNet, PSCR also
received $300 million for public
safety communications research
through its Public Safety Inno-
vation Accelerator program. The
applications for the first wave of
funding around $30 million is
Source: Kelly Hill
23
 FEATURE REPORT

Source: FirstNet RFP

FirstNets map of its coverage objectives, as outlined in its RFP.

under review and is scheduled to
be awarded shortly. According to
Dereck Orr, division chief for PSCR
and acting director of the NIST
Communications Technology Lab-
oratory, PSCR received more than
160 applications for funding public
safety innovation.
It just shows that there is a lot
of interest in being part of ad-
dressing public safety for next
generation broadband, Orr said,
adding that while PSCR received
applications around technology
in a range of public safety areas,
most of the proposals revolved
around mission-critical voice,
location-based services and data
analytics for public safety. Having
access to a local Band 14 network
will allow PSCR to test LTE func-
tionalities and new applications on
a live network, Orr said, and poten-
tially provide access to other public

24

safety researchers as well.
In its latest annual report to Con-
gress, FirstNet said the lab will be
used to test all equipment, appli-
cations and devices that touch the
network. Public safety
features and functionality,
quality of service, priority access
and (PTT) will be tested and in-
dependently validated in the Lab
prior to deployment on the net-
work. It will allow FirstNet to
Test equipment and the Faraday cage at FirstNet
innovation and Test Lab.
be a proactive player in our pub-
lic-private partnership by allowing
FirstNet and public safety to test
new public safety innovations and
validate that they meet the mis-
focused sion critical needs of our nations
like responders while driving new in-
novation into the ecosystem as
quickly as possible. We will also use
the Lab to explore and drive future
technical innovations with poten-
tial applicability for public safety,
such as three-dimensional indoor
location software (critical for lo-
cating first responders and citizens
in multifloor residential and com-
mercial buildings) and unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs; also known
as drones) for improved situational
awareness before, during and after
incident response.
The lab was ready for testing im-
mediately when it opened Novem-
ber. As with so many other aspects of
FirstNet, now it awaits the contract
award so that its real work can begin.
Key takeaways:
FirstNet is ready to move for-
Source: Kelly Hill
ward with ambitious targets for ag-
gressive network planning and de-
ployment over the next five years.
The award for the contract had
been held up by a lawsuit that was
FEATURE REPORT
recently resolved, and now (barring
appeal) FirstNet is free to move for-
ward and award the its contract for
the nationwide public safety LTE
network to a commercial partner.
The state plans will be one of
the first major tasks for FirstNet
and its partner to complete and
those will form the basis for gov-
ernors decisions on whether to opt
in or opt out. If states opt to design
and build their own RAN, those net-
works must still be interoperable
with the larger network and use
the FirstNet EPC.
Although FirstNet has made
great strides in generating enthu-
siasm for its future network, pub-
lic safety stakeholders still have
concerns about coverage in rural
and remote or challenging geo-
graphic areas; cost; local control;
ensuring priority and preemption;
and other issues that FirstNet and
its partner will have to continue to
address as they start to deploy and
try to drive adoption.
Applications for public safety
are expected to be a main driver
for adoption and differentiation
for the network, which FirstNet
expects to provide new opportu-
nities for innovation in how first
responders do their work.
25
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