PD Background Report (PL-USE-2023-000008)

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ATTACHMENT 1—Project Narrative AT&T's Application—HIL03306 Volcano Village East Page 12 of 17 benefit the communities they serve. FirstNet gives first responders access to one highly secure, dedicated, interoperable network and ecosystem supporting voice, data, text, and video communications—technology they need to better communicate and collaborate across agencies and jurisdictions. 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 (" RAN") sites are essential to the success of the program and delivering the mission critical coverage public safety needs to communicate and save lives. FirstNet will enhance emergency communications for everyday use as well as for large-scale emergencies, weather events and other natural disasters that disrupt the state. For example, 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 Police Department(HCPD) utilizes the FirstNet network in concert with the County owned Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system to provide communications and rapid access to data. 4.1. FirstNet Authority The First Responder Network Authority ("FirstNet Authority") is an independent authority within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Chartered in 2012, the FirstNet Authority is charged with carrying out public safety's vision of FirstNet, bringing first responders a dedicated communications ecosystem. The FirstNet Authority consulted extensively with each state,tribes, local governments, and the public safety community regarding how FirstNet will be deployed. 4.2. AT&T FirstNet Partnership Through a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership with FirstNet, AT&T is responsible for building, maintaining, operating, and upgrading FirstNet for the next 25 years. AT&T is upgrading its existing wireless sites and building new wireless facilities to deploy the wireless spectrum set aside for public safety—Band 14. Band 14 is designed to be reliable, functional, safe, and secure and provide optimal levels of operational capacity at all times. Additionally, as of January 1, 2018, FirstNet users have access to FirstNet on all AT&T commercial LTE bands, allowing them to also benefit from AT&T's overall improvements to its commercial network. Simply put, FirstNet provides public safety users with the assurance of network access whenever they need it. Accordingly, AT&T must closely consider location, lease, and facility requirements for the siting, placement, and operation of FirstNet facilities to ensure that, over the course of its 25-year partnership, appropriate accommodations can be made to support the evolving mission- critical services of FirstNet. In August 2017, Governor Ige opted into the FirstNet Authority plan for RAN deployment in Hawaii and thus authorizing construction of the FirstNet network in areas of the state where public safety needs coverage and capacity. By opting-in, Governor Ige enabled public safety to rapidly access broadband services in Hawaii, while also allowing the prompt buildout and