President Trump’s appointment to Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, will impact FirstNet! Trust me! Mr Ross is not one to promote government run anything, he is a true commercial business cardiologist. Things will be drastically different. Why you ask? It has already impacted FirstNet and the appointment hasn’t even been made yet. FirstNet is in a “wait and see” period, just like the States were saying to FirstNet “we will wait and see”. Well, now we see…. everyone is in the wait and see now….  like I said would happen two years ago. FirstNet can’t move forward now because they don’t know what their new leadership will say. The States can’t move forward (so they say) because of FirstNet’s delays and ill-advised progress to date.

With the new administration, the shift will be towards the States. The States were always the best positioned to build FirstNet. FirstNet will be downplayed to a support role of oversight insuring that the States can interoperate across borders. Meanwhile, FirstNet will take control of a national system of control centers and data collection sites steering clear of direct control of State bound command and control requirements. In actuality, this is how it should have happened from the beginning. As I said in the past, this is way too big to try and build it from the top-down…. It has to come from the bottom-up. So how will the States build their portion – through the public private partnership model. In the end the State is not building a network, they are building an infrastructure to support many networks.

AT&T came out today announcing “Directv Now”. Directv Now is a content platform not dependent on their own ownership of the assets. In short, it will be an APP on your Roku or Apple TV type platforms to access all the AT&T Directv content that was traditionally delivered by satellite, Uverse or traditional cable TV accounts.  What does this have to do with the Public Safety Broadband Network? It has a lot to do with the PSBN effort. If a State employs a Public Private Partnership (The Myers Model) to deploy their Public Safety Infrastructure, then this AT&T announcement means that the State may have its first real paying customer.

No matter how AT&T reaps the benefits through the demands of its users, they will always need infrastructure to deliver it — what better way than through a truly hardened and secure infrastructure than the Public Safety Broadband Infrastructure? As part of the P3 model AT&T would be listed as a priority three traffic user of the State’s network, along with others. Players like Netflix, Google TV, Apple TV, Sling, Hulu and others all play in the same content industry that AT&T just blew up – they all need hardened, protected and secure infrastructure to appease the appetite of the devouring consumer, i.e. citizen who also needs Public Safety.

But what the hell do I know I’m…

Just some guy and a blog……

The entire concept of FirstNet needs to be redesigned. FirstNet, the Board, needs to be maintained. The organization FirstNet, CEO etc.., needs to stay as well, but with some directive changes. The board should continue to focus on oversight of the entire national program but not the State solution. FirstNet needs to set the standard for templating the interoperable requirements; develop a framework of a business model that each State can use in delivering its Public Private Partnership; and focus on a top layer topology of interconnection between all State networks. The board must continue its role assuring that Public Safety will get what’s its supposed to get. FirstNet the organization needs refocus on the role of a top layered approach to insuring a nationwide interoperable solution, but it should not be the constructor of the network. The physical construction of the network needs to be the responsibility of the individual State.

Each State should use the templates defined by FirstNet as a starting point to constructing their own models for statewide deployment. Those templates will illustrate the requirements needed to insure interoperability and baseline a revenue share for supporting the national approach, i.e. shareholder stakes in each State P3 for FirstNet. It really is that simple. FirstNet gets to focus on the national organization; the States get to create their own statewide solution; all while adding up to the whole national solution. For those States that don’t have enough resources, or market penetration, then FirstNet can step in to assist, but I find it hard to believe that a State will not have enough. It’s all in how you look at the market and who the potential customers could, should and would be.

But whom am I other than ……

Just some guy and a blog….

So let’s take a look at the landscape. As I stated would happen two years ago, FirstNet has been delayed because of the change of administration. Now it will be six more months (at a minimum) before we see what direction FirstNet will take. Ultimately, it will come back to the very first issue brought up in 2012 – the business model. The current business model that FirstNet is trying to pursue, that is a relationship with a large carrier, will not work. Doesn’t matter if it’s a conservative or liberal administration, partnering with a company whose business model does not align with your own is a dead-end – was a dead-end from the start. The only way for this to truly be a success is by allowing the States to take ownership of their own build-out then consolidate their solutions into a nationwide model – sum of all parts.

FirstNet never should have taken the advice of the carriers from the start, or the consultants who were connected to the carriers. FirstNet just needs to help provide direction, templates for execution, and a framework to consider when tying in interoperable solutions. FirstNet has to focus on the national layer of control of the network — just in case of a multi-state disaster. Let the State take the lead. It is still the government though, so who knows if I’m right. I’m hopeful that President Trump will view the entire Public Safety Broadband Network as an entrepreneurial exercise of creating a new infrastructure. Government control is not the solution FirstNet needs.

Two years ago I predicated that if FirstNet did not get started a year after it was created, it was never going to happen due to the change of administration. As part of any major public private partnership (P3) you must consider the political impacts of the effort. The inherent concept of a P3 is to NOT be under government control. When the DOC and the NTIA enforced Federal Acquisition Requirements (FAR) onto FirstNet, it was over – just like Trump taking Wisconsin. Had FirstNet attacked this as a small entrepreneurial team, they could have executed a framework of an efficient public private partnership model – as was mentioned in the law – and only took the stance of oversight as the States execute their own portion of the models, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Instead, FirstNet started listening to the carrier lobbyist right from the start. The secret lays within the business model…not technology, carrier need’s, or biased representations.  

How can it move forward? Well, that all depends on President Trump and his appointments. Given that this is a large national security solution, costing $100 Billion when done, I’m sure this will be the initial focus of the new administration – when it comes to Public Safety. Once the new administration starts to analyze the situation, we will have two courses again: let the States execute their own portion and focus FirstNet on oversight; or it will be business as usual, which will end in a disaster again. Take this as a do-over, do-over. Maybe this time we can get it right – right?

What about the States who have their RFPs out on the market? Simple, keep your efforts going and utilize the framework that the State of Alabama used in its RFP. In the end, by waiting only impacts a State’s ability to generate more revenue for other programs such as; Veterans, Public Safety, Health, etc..

We will see…. meanwhile I need to find a real job.

Just some guy and a blog…..