Verizon advisors slam AT&T’s influence over FirstNet investments

Five members of Verizon’s First Responder Advisory Council are calling attention to a report that is critical of FirstNet’s relationship with AT&T in terms of billions of dollars in investments. The report, which was published in November 2022, was based on the findings of auditors at the office of the Inspector General at the US Department of Commerce. FirstNet is owned by the FirstNet Authority. But AT&T is the primary contractor, deploying and managing the network. “Overall, we found that FirstNet Authority has not established a sound process for selecting reinvestment opportunities. FirstNet Authority could not demonstrate that these investment opportunities were the most appropriate or efficient use of resources,” the IG found. The inspector general wrote, “FirstNet Authority relied on information from AT&T that appeared to influence the process of identifying and selecting reinvestment opportunities.” The inspector general said it was making recommendations that could put more than $296 million in funds for FirstNet to better use and “ensure future multi-billion-dollar reinvestments are supported and justified and reflect public safety priorities.” The report indicated that AT&T made upgrades to its network for 5G, which were partly funded by FirstNet monies, without first getting final approvals from the Department of Commerce. However, AT&T has touted the fact that while it was deploying equipment for FirstNet, it simultaneously upgraded many of its towers with 5G equipment to save the company money in a "one-touch," approach.