Some Areas Likely Won't Be Covered by FirstNet, Official Says

“There’s a lot of geography to cover” in the U.S., Kennedy said. FirstNet will meet “rural buildout milestones,” he said. “That’s very costly. So we have to balance that with our other mandate to be sustainable,” he said. “We’re going to go absolutely as far as we can.” FirstNet is collecting data from the states about where public safety needs to answer emergency calls, he said.

Kennedy said as a first responder he responded to calls in remote areas where there was no public safety land mobile radio network coverage. Most of those areas “probably didn’t have more than, let’s say, one rescue a year,” he said. “We would love to have coverage where it can be, but there are some physical limitations.”

Kennedy also conceded that government procurement rules under which FirstNet has to operate are likely to be a complicating factor in negotiating deals with industry. Part of FirstNet funding is to come from contracts with carriers to use part of the network when it's not needed by first responders. “The rules certainly are difficult,” Kennedy said. “I won’t say whether they’re very difficult or not. We’ll see coming up here in a little while.”

The federal procurement rules generally cover the purchases of equipment, software or services used by agencies, Kennedy said. “This is a very unique procurement in that we’re also looking for revenue to come in for the covered leasing agreements,” he said. “That’s pretty unique when you look at it.” Working out deals with industry is something that is “hard for a government agency to do,” he said.

Kennedy said he's very positive about the outlook for the network. “I do think it will get built and it will have lots of use,” he said. “One of the things I have found in my experience in public safety is that if you build tools that work and you put them in the hands of police officers, firefighters and paramedics, they will utilize them.” Today, many first responders often have to rely on personal devices rather than a public safety network, he said.

Whether the nation’s millions of first responders will be willing to subscribe to the network is a question, Kennedy said. “I think it’s an issue to be concerned about,” he said. “We’re certainly looking at offerings that will be competitive to commercial offerings today in price.” Subscribers will get “additional features” like priority access to the network and heightened security they don’t get from a carrier, he said. Budgets are “tight” for many public safety agencies “but we think we can give an affordable offering.” The cost of subscribing to FirstNet will be comparable to the cost of a monthly contract with a carrier, he said.

FirstNet doesn’t take issue with GAO projections that the network could cost $12 billion to $47 billion to build, Kennedy said, calling it “probably a realistic range.” Whether it will be at the high or low end “is yet to be seen,” he said. FirstNet has developed models on the potential costs, but isn't ready to go public with its projections, he said. “The biggest obstacle” is working through the acquisition and consultation process, Kennedy said. “They’re timely, but at the same time you have to work through them and they feed each other.” Finding the right people to staff FirstNet is also a big issue, he said. Congress has been generally supportive, he said.

FirstNet is hosting an “Industry Day” Thursday, starting at 1 p.m. at the Dallas L. Peck Memorial Auditorium, U.S. Geological Survey building in Reston, Virginia.