FCC hands big win to FirstNet and AT&T in 4.9 GHz battle

AT&T and the FirstNet Authority are sitting pretty after the FCC voted 4-0 to hand over a chunk of the 4.9 GHz band for the operation of FirstNet’s nationwide public safety network. The 50 megahertz of spectrum in question is reportedly worth up to $14 billion. But their giddiness might not last too long if the Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) has anything to do with it. CERCI is already threatening to challenge the FCC’s decision in court. CERCI, backed by T-Mobile and Verizon, has been fighting tooth and nail for the agency to reject calls by the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) to assign the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet, which runs on AT&T’s network.