24 states have opted in, the rest have until Dec. 28 to decide
After a brief delay, the deadline for governors to decide whether to opt in or opt out of the First Responders Network Authority Radio Access Network build-out by AT&T has been set. Decisions must be made by Thursday, Dec. 28 — making the week between Christmas and the new year potentially a busy one for FirstNet decisions, and setting up 2018 as a big year for the public-private partnership in terms of network build-out.
Any state or U.S. territory that doesn’t make its decision by the FirstNet opt-out deadline of Dec. 28 will be automatically opted in to the AT&T build-out, according to the agency.
AT&T had already updated its previously-released state plans, but the 90-day clock couldn’t start ticking until the National Telecommunications and Information Administration released information on funding levels for the State Alternative Plan Program, which sets up spectrum leasing authority and funding for states which choose to opt out of the AT&T RAN build-out and have their plans to do so approved by the Federal Communications Commission. That funding information was released on Friday by NTIA, and it may impact some of the remaining states’ decisions on whether to opt out. According to NTIA, the funding available for states to build their own RAN ranges from a maximum grant of around $800,000 for the territory of American Samoa, to maximum grant of about $451 million for the state of Texas (which has already decided to opt in to the AT&T RAN build). See the full funding level information here (pdf).
AT&T and FirstNet initially released RAN plans to the states and territories back in July, and since then have been consulting with the 56 states and territories in order to refine the plans as part of last week’s update through the FirstNet portal. Governors could opt in to the AT&T build at any point, and so far 24 states have done so — the largest being Texas. Louisiana is the most recent addition to the list of FirstNet opt-in states, coming on-board late last week.
Opting in to the network buildout by AT&T does not obligate first responders in a state to use the FirstNet network. AT&T is waiving fees for priority network assets and plans to have preemption capabilities in place by the end of the year; Verizon, meanwhile, is planning to build its own public safety core network in order to compete.
