FirstNet News
FirstNet CEO Mike Poth gave an update to the California Broadband Council in Sacramento last Thursday. Mike explained how FirstNet will benefit both the state and public safety nationwide and addressed questions on topics including opt-out costs and the use of deployables in the event of wildfires in mountainous or rural areas.
Also last week, FirstNet staff and the Oklahoma Public Safety Broadband Network team (OKPSBN) exhibited at the 2016 All Hazards Incident Management Teams Association Educational Symposium in Oklahoma City. FirstNet and OKPSBN provided a briefing on the importance of public safety broadband and how it will transform incident management in the future, and demonstrated related data applications. The FirstNet team had multiple opportunities to answer questions related to the State Plan process and the future benefits of the network in large-scale incident response.
On Monday, FirstNet attended the Democratic Governors Association Annual December Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Staff were able to answer questions about the opt-in/opt-out process, ongoing state consultation, and next steps in 2017.
On Tuesday, FirstNet staff met with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Ignacio, Colorado, providing an overview of FirstNet and fielding questions from the officials in attendance. FirstNet will aim to schedule another meeting in the near future with the tribe’s council.
On Thursday, FirstNet staff also gave a FirstNet overview and update at the National Conference of State Legislatures Capitol Forum in Washington, DC to state legislators from the telecom committee.
This week, FirstNet will be participating in the Association of Air Medical Services Air Medical Transport Conference in Charlotte, NC; an FCC Region 19 700/800MHz Committee meeting in Cranston, RI; a FirstNet Board Meeting in Sacramento, CA; the Kentucky Governance Body Meeting in Frankfort; a Red Lake Nation Tribal Council meeting in Red Lake, MN; the PSAC Winter Meeting in Sacramento, CA; a Maine Interoperable Communications Committee meeting in Augusta; and a meeting of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s Transportation Safety Advancement Group in Washington, DC.
Last week, FirstNet posted two new blog posts: IACP Passes Resolution in Support of the FirstNet Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network and Key Considerations for the FirstNet State Plan. All blog posts are available on the FirstNet blog at: www.firstnet.gov/newsroom/blog.
The Fall 2016 911 Newsletter can now be found at the FirstNet Newsroom.
News from the PSAC, States and Territories
Final preparations are underway for the full in-person PSAC meeting December 14-15 in Sacramento, California, at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Sacramento. The meeting will be available via teleconference to the first 100 participants on December 14 from 1:30pm-3:45pm PST at 866.918.6298, PIN: 6645537. On-site registration for attendees will be available, but space is limited.
Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) is excited to announce the release of the NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program Funding Opportunity to rapidly accelerate research and development related to public safety broadband communications. Through this opportunity, PSCR anticipates awarding up to $30,000,000 in grants and cooperative agreements by May 2017. The funding opportunity is open to all non-Federal entities. In addition, applicants are strongly encouraged to partner with public safety organizations to create innovative and impactful proposals. For more information, please visit PSCR’s grants page, https://www.nist.gov/ctl/pscr/funding-partnerships/grants. The funding opportunity can also be found on Grants.gov, http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=290542.
Media Watch
*The information provided is copied as-is from the media outlet source and is not edited by FirstNet. Links to non-Federal Government websites do not constitute endorsement of any product, service, organization, company, information provider, or content. Clicking on non-Department of Commerce hyperlinks will direct you to websites that are not under the Government’s control.
MDJT CBS 58 12/6: First Responders Leverage Private LTE Network During Major Central Ohio Sporting Event
The demonstration provided an end-to-end Band 14 solution for a number of public safety professionals in charge of security for The Ohio State University’s football game on Nov. 5th 2016. The use of Band 14 spectrum was granted by FirstNet. The exercise included 75 participants from several federal, state and local public safety agencies that regularly support security operations at the football stadium.
Web and Social Media
FirstNet’s social media presence grew at the normal rate this week. Twitter gained 36 new followers, now at 4,685. Facebook has 542 followers. LinkedIn now has 1,790 followers. YouTube has 365 subscribers.
Do you have something you want to feature in the weekly update, such as a conference date, personnel announcement, or news article showcasing the work of your organization? Please send it to PSAC@firstnet.gov for possible inclusion in an upcoming update.
National Public Safety Telecommunications Council 