FirstNet Board Approves Spectrum Lease Agreements with Adams County, Colo. and New Jersey

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) Board approved separate agreements with the State of New Jersey and Adams County (CO) allowing them to lease access to FirstNet’s spectrum. With the approval of these agreements, FirstNet has entered in to four separate spectrum lease agreements with public safety Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grantees.

The agreements between FirstNet and New Jersey and Adams County mark the first step in the process towards restarting these important projects. They each now will submit a request to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to lift their partial suspension, and FirstNet will submit a letter in support of that action. NTIA, which is the grant administrator, will make a recommendation to the grants office on whether to lift the funding suspension. The ADCOM 911 project will be one of the first systems to have the capability to provide advanced mobile data services to a major airport complex and link adjacent public safety entities to airport public safety operations. Its proximity to the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) center in Boulder, Colo. enables it to serve as a pilot demonstration project to test interoperability with FirstNet’s nationwide network. New Jersey revised its original project plan to focus on procuring deployable assets — 37 cell sites on wheels. New Jersey will use these mobile cell sites to expand network coverage in the state and help inform FirstNet’s deployable strategy.