AT&T, Verizon Battle Over FirstNet

Now that states have begun to opt-in to the FirstNet nationwide broadband public safety communications network, Verizon called on the FCC to spell out that states and business partners that choose to opt-out of FirstNet have the flexibility to build and operate their own Radio Access Networks. The FCC says those must be interoperable with the FirstNet system being built by AT&T.

Specifically, Verizon SVP Federal Regulatory and Legal Affairs William Johnson says the flexibility, “must include the state’s and its partners’ authority to build and operate their own network core, which includes data centers and systems used to interconnect users to each other and to other public networks, as long as it is interoperable with FirstNet’s nationwide network,” in a letter to the agency. 

He says the FCC should clarify its interoperability review of any state alternative plan will not be limited to a state RAN that interconnects directly with the network core built and operated by FirstNet and AT&T; and network interoperability can be achieved “through alternative network configurations, including core-to-core interconnection and mutual automatic roaming arrangements that satisfy the Commission’s approved interoperability criteria.”  Continue Reading