FirstNet surpasses 2.8 million connections

More than 18,500 public safety agencies and organizations, accounting for more than 2.8 million connections¹ nationwide, are now on FirstNet®, Built with AT&T* – the only nationwide communications network built with and for America’s first responders. 

This growth has helped us to establish our market leadership position within the law enforcement community, including with the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, and Newark Police Department (New Jersey), and the Florida Division of Emergency Management – among the latest agencies to sign on to public safety’s network.

“In less than 5 years, we’ve built a network with and for America’s first responders and have built an ecosystem with the communication tools and technologies they need every day, on every mission,” said Jason Porter, President, Public Sector and FirstNet Program, AT&T. As the FirstNet market leadership grows, we will continue to innovate new solutions and enhance existing ones, helping to ensure public safety has access to the information they need, when they need it.”

Public safety is using FirstNet to manage daily operations, planned events, and emergency situations and disasters. From San Francisco’s Fleet Week earlier this month to COVID-19 testing centers and wildfires in the West, FirstNet is keeping public safety connected unlike any other network. In fact, so far this year FirstNet has deployed more than 650 solutions to support public safety’s emergency response – from dedicated FirstNet SatCOLTs to expediting network restoration efforts.

“When an emergency strikes, reliable communication is vital for our department and the communities we serve,” said Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, San Francisco Sheriff’s Office. “We are proud to partner with FirstNet, and confident that this technology will help our members make better decisions at incidents to help mitigate the loss of life and property. FirstNet also ensures streamlined communication between regional public safety agencies during mutual aid incidents.” We’re also giving first responders truly dedicated coverage and capacity when they need it most. So far, we’ve surpassed 95% of our nationwide Band 14 coverage target with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority), well ahead of schedule. And public safety’s dedicated ecosystem is expanding to support the growing subscribers.

There are now 315+ FirstNet Ready® devices and more than 180 apps in the FirstNet App Catalog, which includes a carefully curated category of safety and wellness apps to further support the mental and physical health of first responders. The FirstNet App Catalog is geared to first responders, featuring apps relevant to public safety’s mission, and gives FirstNet subscribers a dedicated site to find meaningful new solutions that have been specifically reviewed for use with their network.

“From accelerating innovations in mapping technologies to simplifying access to devices, FirstNet continues to raise the bar for what it means to be a network built for and by public safety,” said Ed Parkinson, CEO of the FirstNet Authority. “Feedback from America’s first responders is at the center of everything we do, and the FirstNet Authority will continue to work with public safety and AT&T to evolve and enhance the network based on their operational needs.”

By listening to what public safety needs, we’re introducing new mission-centric solutions including Locate Standard for FirstNet, a new dynamic mapping application that includes Z-Axis, and NumberSync for Samsung wearables.

Why is this important?

FirstNet is public safety’s network. While commercial wireless offerings are available to public safety, FirstNet continues to grow because it stands apart from those commercial offerings. Unlike commercial networks, FirstNet is built to public safety’s strict specifications and requirements. It is providing first responders with truly dedicated coverage and capacity when they need it, unique benefits like always-on priority and preemption, and high-quality Band 14 spectrum. These advanced capabilities help emergency managers, fire, EMS and law enforcement save lives and protect their communities.

We continue to listen to public safety and focus on delivering the services they need, on their network. Nowhere else can public safety get its own nationwide, dedicated communications platform with the mission-ready and mission-critical standards-based solutions they need to keep themselves and their communities safe. 

What are the new solutions?

FirstNet is expanding public safety’s network and rolling out mission-driven innovative solutions. These new solutions and offers will give public safety new capabilities:

• Locate Standard and Locate Pro Offer for FirstNet: As every public safety agency knows, coordinating first responders in the field during emergency situations can be challenging. Existing solutions that use radio to verbally communicate position provide limited situational awareness, especially within multi-story structures. This limited location visibility can lead to delayed response times and error-prone operational decisions. FirstNet understands these challenges and will soon provide first responders an exclusive solution to solve this problem – Locate Standard for FirstNet.  This dynamic mapping application empowers public safety by providing near real-time responder locations on a detail-rich map, including Z-Axis (or vertical position) to identify a team member’s location during critical times. Locate Standard provides greater efficiency to keep your teams safe, improve situational awareness and coordination and decrease response times. Agencies on FirstNet can sign-up for Locate Standard free for 1-year, along with Locate Pro – a premium mapping solution, and Activate – an emergency callout and team mobilization tool, free for the first 2 months of the offer.²
  
  
• NumberSync for Samsung Wearables: NumberSync allows a user to “twin” a smartphone with a wearable, like a smartwatch, to make and receive calls and text messages, check email, monitor health status and more without the smartphone present. Coming soon, this functionality will be more widely available to public safety with the Samsung Galaxy Watch3, Watch4 and the Watch4 Classic wearables. This is just another technology advantage available to first responders.

For more about the value FirstNet brings to public safety, check out FirstNet.com. 

^{1 As of Q3 2021}

^{2 Ltd. time offer. Select locations only. Avail. only to verified FirstNet public safety entities for Agency Paid Primary user lines of service. After said free mos., must opt-in & pay a per mo. charge per subscriber.  Data charges may apply for app download and usage. Add’l fees, taxes & other charges & restr’s apply. See https://www.firstnet.com/content/dam/firstnet/white-papers/firstnet-locate-standard-for-firstnet.pdf  or store rep for details.}

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