CCA’s CEO: FirstNet Public Safety Network Presents Rural Carrier Opportunities

FirstNet, the nation’s planned mobile broadband public safety network offers significant opportunities for rural wireless network operators, according to Steven K. Berry, president and CEO of the Competitive Carriers Association. “My suggestion to carriers is ‘this is an opportunity you have to be part of,’” said Berry. After being debated for more than a decade, the idea of creating a nationwide mobile broadband network to support emergency responders finally appears poised to become reality now that the AWS-3 auction has generated considerable funding for the network. “I’m pleased that there seems to be renewed focus and interest in real progress,” said Berry.

The FirstNet public safety network has been allotted a block of spectrum in the coveted 700 MHz band for which it will have priority usage. But according to Berry “in rural America there will be few times that [emergency responders will] need all of that spectrum,” which means rural wireless operators could use the spectrum when it is not needed by emergency personnel. And with technologies such as LTE-A giving carriers the ability to aggregate disparate spectrum bands, Berry argues that small wireless carriers could gain the ability to provide ultra-high-speed mobile broadband by combining their own spectrum holdings with public safety spectrum. Berry noted that there are fewer than five million emergency responders nationwide and that the public safety network will be designed to handle 250,000 to 350,000 users in an individual area.