Department of the Navy Turns to AT&T’s FirstNet Platform

Mike Leff, AT&T Government Solutions

The Department of the Navy plans to adopt the FirstNet public safety communications platform AT&T is helping build through a partnership with the First Responder Network Authority.

FirstNet is a nationwide high-speed wireless broadband network specifically for first responders and the public safety community, intended to be reliable, highly secure and interoperable so information flows quickly without interruption.

The Department of the Navy includes the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Under a policy directive from the secretary of the Navy, the commander of Navy Installations Command and the commander of the Marine Corps Installations Command are tasked with developing the functional, technical and budgetary requirements, policies, procedures and deployment strategies for FirstNet’s integration on Navy and Marine installations.

They are also responsible for identifying the Navy and Marine Corps public safety first response entities eligible for FirstNet. AT&T will then help the Department of the Navy assess whether FirstNet communications platform fill its mission needs.

“We are honored to help the Department of the Navy transition to the FirstNet public safety communications platform,” said Mike Leff, vice president of Defense for AT&T Public Sector. “It’s a promising first step toward eventual procurement, deployment and management of FirstNet-based services.”

FirstNet wireless coverage plans to expand to 99 percent of Americans, 76.2 percent of the continental U.S. and five U.S. island territories, according to its website.

Last month, AT&T announced it received Authority to Operate for the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions technology purchasing program. Through this EIS, AT&T plans to help more agencies move to FirstNet.