Verizon Announces Competition on FirstNet
Verizon Communications Inc. said that the company will be offering dedicated lanes at the core of its wireless network to serve communications for police, emergency-response customers in the US.
Verizon, US largest carrier by subscribers, says it currently controls about two-thirds of the market for police, fire and other first responders, and in its announcement signaled that it plans to hold on to them. By opening dedicated lanes at the core of its wireless US network the company competes directly with AT&T.
"We're serious about remaining extremely relevant in this space," Michael Maiorana, a Verizon senior vice president who oversees the effort, said yesterday. The company did not disclose how much it would cost to make the upgrades.
Verizon said its public-safety lanes will operate separately from those for commercial customers and that it would prioritize public-safety traffic over commercial traffic during times of network congestion. The priority-access feature, which is already available to public-safety services, will be free of charge, the carrier said. A similar feature called "preemption" will be available later this year.
Currently 25% of US states and territories have already agreed to join the FirstNet network that is build by AT&T, though the carrier must still entice public-safety agencies to sign up for it. AT&T expecs to welcome most of the states in 2018.
Verizon said its offer doesn't require states to opt out of FirstNet, and the company doesn't expect to receive federal funds. It said the dedicated lanes, known as a private network core, will be ready in 2018.
