T-Mobile’s Business Push, Technology Advantages, and 5G Slicing with Daryl Schoolar

Full Transcript

0m10s Speaker 0

Hello, and welcome to the two hundred and thirty fifth episode of The Week with Roger, a conversation between analysts about all things telecom, media, and technology by Recon Analytics. I'm Don Kellogg, and with me as always is Roger Entner. How are doing, Roger?

0m22s Speaker 1

Hey. I'm good.

0m24s Speaker 0

So, Roger, this week, we're pleased to have Scott Agnew, president of the FirstNet program at AT and T on today. Scott, welcome to the podcast.

0m32s Speaker 2

Thanks, Don, and thanks, Roger. Thanks for having me.

0m35s Speaker 1

Well, thanks for for telling us more about FirstNet. You know, the first responder space is a very competitive place, and we have a number of providers. How is FirstNet different?

0m48s Speaker 2

Yeah. Roger, we really see FirstNet in a league of its own. It's an entire program that's built from the ground up exclusively for America's first responders. It's the only program that's held accountable by the federal government. And we really start with a dedicated corps with dedicated band 14 spectrum to ensure that public safety has that end to end priority.

1m15s Speaker 2

In addition, through this public private partnership with the federal government, we're held accountable to deliver a highly dedicated secure core four g and five g connectivity and priority that's always on, always connected. It doesn't matter if it's four g. It doesn't matter if it's five g. It doesn't matter of the type of device. It has to work in the worst possible conditions.

1m38s Speaker 2

And, again, we do that through constant iterations, constant evolution, and that accountability to the government where it just has to work. We have no choice. This is not business decisions we're making. It's a twenty five year commitment to public safety that we signed up for in 02/2017, and we're going on our eighth year. And we're seeing massive amounts of adoption with over 6,700,000 connections.

2m6s Speaker 2

And the reason why we've done that is we start with a layered approach from a connectivity standpoint. We have over 250,000 more square miles macro covered, and that's due to the initial 6 and a half billion dollars that was invested in the network by the FirstNet authority. Again, none of it was taxpayer dollars. It's all part of this public private partnership. So it's advantaged the public safety sector here.

2m33s Speaker 2

We have over 1,200 sites that were built as part of the opt in process that we negotiated with each state that improved coverage. Over 2,000 sites that were improved on with our roaming partners to ensure not only where you're either on the AT and T network or on the roaming provider's network, they would get that dedicated band 14 priority and preemption. And we continue to evolve this. As part of our recent agreement with the authority as of last year, 8,300,000,000.0 in incremental investment. We've added a thousand new purpose built sites for public safety.

3m9s Speaker 2

These aren't sites that AT and T are selecting. These are sites that public safety is telling us where they want it. So this isn't business decisions. These are public safety decisions building this network. And as part of that $8,300,000,000, approximately 2.3 is gonna be invested in coverage.

3m27s Speaker 2

That's about three to 4,000 sites. That's incremental to what AT and T is already doing and already adding band 14. And we're working closely with public safety right now to determine where those sites are, whether they're on the border, on ports of entry, or in specific areas where public safety has needs. So it's a community effort. It's a platform.

3m49s Speaker 2

It's always on, always connected, and it's always prioritized. There's no need for a slice because you have the entire network.

3m57s Speaker 1

So let me ask a little bit more. With the opt in, you work together with public safety in all the different states to figure out where new sites should be built to identify places where coverage should be improved so that first responders can do their job?

4m18s Speaker 2

That's absolutely correct. FirstNet was a choice. Each state had to opt in and choose to either be a part of the FirstNet program or to utilize funding to build their own network. All 50 states and six territories, including Pacific territories, USVI, Puerto Rico, all said yes. But as part of that opt in process, the states and public safety within that states had a voice.

4m46s Speaker 2

And we did a lot of things for public safety, such as developing deployable solutions that they could use on their own as well as build sites. In fact, there's over 500 deployables that are owned by public safety today, and they can choose when and where it's deployed on the network. So the states told us where they needed it, and AT and T as the contractor delivered coverage.

5m10s Speaker 1

Alright. Maybe you can tell our audience what is exactly a deployable.

5m15s Speaker 2

Yeah. That's a great question. A deployable, we use terms such as sell on light truck, sell on wheels, or comp CRD, which is compact rapid deployable. Just think of that as a mobile cell tower in different sizes, whether it's a size of a truck or size of a trailer or public safety in an event where maybe coverage doesn't exist or coverage has been compromised in a particular area and public safety is operating there, they can actually deploy that tower, deploy the antenna, turn it on, and immediately get band 14 coverage to do their job. It's backhauled through the satellite, satellite connectivity that's provided to public safety, and they don't miss a beat priority and preemption.

6m0s Speaker 2

They get connectivity when and where it matters most.

6m3s Speaker 1

And public safety is picking where these mobile cell sites are going.

6m8s Speaker 2

The ones they own, absolutely, the 500. Now there's over a 180 that we have built from an AT and T perspective, a FirstNet perspective that we operate. And so in times of disasters such as Helene, Milton, the LA fires, we will work with public safety. We'll work with their emergency operation centers, determine where that coverage is needed based off of where they're operating. Whether it's a search and rescue team, whether there's a large public safety event, we'll deploy for them.

6m40s Speaker 2

Right? And we have a commitment to be there within fourteen hours, much of which we're already staging, already collaborating with public safety, and we beat that requirement. That's not to mention the hundreds of assets that AT and T owns. Right? So we use those assets too, but there is a 180 that is just dedicated for the sole purpose of operating for public safety.

7m1s Speaker 2

If you're out in LA in the fires and you saw just the massive amount of command centers that were there, we had dozens of deployables out there supporting their operations. And if they asked us to move that deployable because their search and rescue operation move, we would do that. That's of no cost to public safety. It's fully about the integration when I say FirstNet is not just a network. It's an entire program.

7m25s Speaker 2

That's a huge part of it.

7m26s Speaker 1

Then the other question is, you mentioned that public safety has band 14, and you have a dedicated core for FirstNet. Does that mean that the first responders can only use band 14 and nothing else?

7m42s Speaker 2

We integrated a unique approach because we knew there'd be an evolution of four g, five g, even six g. Public safety will get all the g's. Right? And we know they need maximum capacity, so we developed what's called an all band approach. So all our LTE bands, five g bands, we provide priority and preemption capabilities for public safety to communicate.

8m5s Speaker 2

So they get maximum capacity. Now they obviously have their dedicated spectrum of band 14 when it matters most, And so they have that dedicated lane always. So in a sunny day environment, they're using five g. Right? We were the first public safety organization to launch five g.

8m25s Speaker 2

We did that in 2021, so public safety has been enjoying that. But really what's key when reliability matters most, when connectivity matters most, they have that dedicated lane of band 14.

8m37s Speaker 1

Excellent. So what's coming next?

8m40s Speaker 2

Well, what's coming next is a whole host of innovation. We just recently launched iterations of a product that we called MegaRange. That's high powered user equipment. Something that's dedicated only to band 14, only allowed on band 14. It's basically a one dot two watt device.

8m58s Speaker 2

You know, normal cell phone, what your listeners are listening on is point two. And so it's six times the strength of a standard device. So think maritime, think border coverage, think rural, that these devices allow public safety to get farther while still maintaining speeds. We're also reached an agreement with AST. AST will be launching satellite service here for public safety.

9m25s Speaker 2

We know text isn't good enough. They need voice. They need data. They need connectivity and to be able to operate how they operate. So that will be launching with priority and preemption with a public safety first mentality.

9m39s Speaker 2

In fact, we've been working with them for the last seven years in ensuring that we have the right solution and it's built with first responders first. We've also launched the first mission critical push to talk solution in the world, and we're continuing to iterate with more devices. We recently launched an integrated device with l three Harris. So that's your traditional LMR radio device that has the FirstNet client built in driving interoperability because we know it's not just about connectivity. Connectivity is foundational.

10m12s Speaker 2

It's a must have. It has to work in the worst possible conditions. But now we're getting into the evolution of interoperability, coming to public safety where they operate. So integrating with their land mobile radio solutions. We already have radio based solutions.

10m26s Speaker 2

We're moving to IP based solutions, hardware based solution, and moving away from hardware based. So you're gonna see a lot of new technology coming. We've also provide complete transparency to our network. As a first responder on our network, they get to see the sites that are functioning or the sites in maintenance. We're expanding that visibility, getting more granular.

10m49s Speaker 2

Why? Because public safety needs complete situational awareness in what's going on with their network. This is unprecedented. I've talked with many other countries that are launching mission critical voice networks. It's not something that's done anywhere else.

11m3s Speaker 1

That's quite the list of innovation that you're bringing here to the table.

11m9s Speaker 2

Right. It's contractual you know, not only is it it's needed for public safety and we believe in it and we're passionate about it, it's also contractually obligated. We're required to develop. But it's we're doing it willingly because we know it helps our first responders communicate, it helps our communities, and it helps them go home safe.

11m28s Speaker 1

So how is it working with the FirstNet authority? How is that relationship going with the government?

11m34s Speaker 2

It's a tremendous advantage. It's an absolute tremendous advantage because this public private partnership that they're coming to the table with oversight, holding us accountable, making sure that we're giving the absolute best and improving on that best, also because they are the voice of public safety. That's their job. That's in the legislation that they have to consistently do outreach and learn from public safety, and we get that fed back in. It helps us with our requirements.

12m4s Speaker 2

It helps us with enhancements to the network. Anything on the network that they see improvement in the multitude of hundreds and hundreds of reports that we have to provide, we have to take action on. But it's just been they've been facilitating that relationship that allows us just to get better and better. Just they're the voice of public safety, and that's why the FirstNet authority is so critical in their existence.

12m28s Speaker 1

Well, terrific. Thank you, Scott, for giving us a terrific overview over a program that I'm sure a lot of people didn't know enough but needed to know more. Appreciate you coming on the show.

12m41s Speaker 2

Roger, appreciate your time. Thank you. And thank you, Don.

12m44s Speaker 0

Alright. Thanks, Roger. We'll talk next week.

12m46s Speaker 1

Talk to you next week.