Jeffrey Westling on FirstNet Reauthorization, Governance, and Competition
Jeffrey Westling, ICLE Senior Scholar, was quoted in a Communications Daily article on congressional debate over reauthorizing FirstNet, proposed governance changes, oversight of the FirstNet-AT&T relationship, and whether the public-safety broadband network should remain operated by a single carrier or be opened to competition. Read the full article here.
Jeffrey Westling, a senior scholar of innovation policy at the International Center for Law & Economics, said he will be watching the Senate Communications hearing for signs of whether panel members believe FirstNet governance changes are necessary. “One of the issues that people have with FirstNet is the lack of oversight,” something the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General criticized in an August report (see 2508280059), Westling said. “I don’t necessarily think there needs to be a [governance] change, but if there are ways where we can get a little more insight into that relationship between” FirstNet and AT&T, the network’s operator, “that would be a good thing generally.”
Westling also said he expects “some interesting discussions” during the Senate Communications hearing about whether a FirstNet renewal should maintain AT&T’s role as sole operator or open it up to other carriers, a move that rivals Verizon and T-Mobile have been advocating (see 2509250060). Scott Agnew, AT&T’s president of FirstNet and public safety mobility, and Cory Davis, vice president of Verizon’s Frontline, its alternative public safety network, are set to testify at the hearing alongside Adkinson.