My coverage is bigger than yours: Verizon spats with AT&T over the FirstNet responders' network
AT&T, in its turn, promised that 95% of the US population will be covered by 2022, and FirstNet will run on its own hardware, separate from all commercial traffic. That private core that will secure and prioritize the first responders' communication needs, however, is now a bone of contention between AT&T and Verizon. It turns out that Big Red also intends to build it out, and has tested its preemption capabilities already, starting with the LAPD, and the Rose March back in 2017.
The two carrier juggernauts are even rolling out dedicated app stores and emergency network services for specific locations, so that local authorities can pick and choose. There's plenty of money in the game, and the moves are just starting, according to Ken Rehbehn, a chief analyst from CritComm Insights:
Verizon's moves to counter each FirstNet element offered by AT&T help give its large base of public-safety accounts reasons to delay a shift away to FirstNet. The future, however, will be determined primarily by requirements to access applications limited to operation on the FirstNet core network. Mission-critical push-to-talk may be one of those applications or it may applications related to Department of Justice information management or DHS disaster response. As key applications become available only via FirstNet core, then agencies will be forced to migrate. Until then, coverage, pricing and account relationships will be the dominant factors.
source: FirstNet via FierceWireless
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