2021-06-03 Windward Exh A AT&T Mobility USE 21-000087

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is expanded demand for telehealth services, including on Hawaii island, to fill the growing demand for remote community healthcare with recent reports suggesting that telehealth maybe the new norm. Telehealth bridges the gap in medical care for patients who may be unable to physically be present in a doctor's office or hospital and expands the reach of specialists who may be located off-island. In addition to expanding AT&T commercial coverage, the proposed facility will provide an important public benefit by including equipment to support the FirstNet network, the first nationwide broadband network dedicated to public safety. Congress mandated the FirstNet network in two thousand twelve (2012) in its establishment of the FirstNet Authority within the U.S. Department of Commerce. FirstNet represents a giant leap in communication capabilities for public safety personnel. It gives first responders access to a highly secure, dedicated, interoperable network and ecosystem supporting voice, data, text, and video communications as well as priority and preemption over the usual, commercial users. I'd like to raise that the FirstNet Authority submitted a letter of support for this application which stated "The FirstNet Authority's mission is to provide and maintain a single, interoperable platform that consistently satisfies the demanding communications needs of the public safety community in Hawaii and across the country. New radio access network sites are essential to the success of the program and delivering the mission critical coverage public safety needs to communicate and save lives. This network has been a top priority for first responders and public safety agencies in Hawaii and throughout the country and has been designed based on their specific expressed needs with coverage and capacity being paramount" end quote. Through a bidding process, the FirstNet Authority issued a twenty-five (25) year contract to AT&T to build and maintain this network and all states and territories opted into using this network. During the State of Hawai`i's opt-in process as with most jurisdictions, the State negotiated a number of new site builds in certain areas to help improve the network they as stakeholders would be relying upon. This area that would be covered by this site we are here to talk about today is one of the areas identified by the State, with input from local public safety agencies, including Hawaii County Police Department(PD) and Fire. AT&T determined a need for this proposed facility in this area through a combined analysis of market demand, service requests, radio frequency engineering design, and input from public safety officials. This proposed facility will provide all AT&T/FirstNet customers with reliable wireless service in the area, including fewer dropped calls, improved call quality, and access for emergency 911 calls. Enhanced FirstNet coverage will allow for the utilization of the priority and preemption feature by first responders and wireless applications for faster response and situational awareness, especially during emergency events. For example, and as they have testified to in the past before this Commission, Hawaii County Fire Department(HCFD) uses the FirstNet network to view real-time data related to emergency conditions prior to their arrival on site. Similarly, Hawaii County PD utilizes the FirstNet network in concert with the County owned Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system to provide communications and rapid access to data. 9 EXHIBIT A