By Dave Buchanan, FirstNet Director of Consultation

More than fifty people from local, state, and tribal public safety and communications entities gathered at the Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center near the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee on December 12, to learn more about FirstNet and exchange ideas with us on key issues such as the state’s unique coverage needs for the planned public safety broadband network.

The meeting got off to a great start when Larry Gowen, Program Manager for FloridaNet, encouraged attendees to stay active in the planning process and said the state aimed to be a “national model” for how states can prepare for the broadband network. “This was a great opportunity for both Florida and FirstNet, and we now have concrete direction in how we can proceed to the next level,” Larry said.

Following Larry’s presentation, I talked about how the consultation meetings are helping us better understand each state and territory’s requirements. FirstNet has been sending a mix of outreach, planning, and technical experts to these meetings so we can develop a network that can meet their needs. I said the goal of this meeting and the overall consultation process is to learn as much as possible about existing communications infrastructure and challenges in each state so we can ensure the network is designed to connect a national core with radio access networks in each state and territory.

I also discussed how the consultation process was working in tandem with our Public Notice and Request for Information processes to provide a more complete picture for FirstNet to develop an acquisition strategy for the network.

Bobby Brown, Information Technology Manager for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, urged FirstNet to place as much importance on coverage in small, rural communities as in large, urban ones. “We recognize the extreme need for this service,” he added. We also received important feedback about our coverage modeling from Greg Holcomb, who is responsible for working with the eight regions in Florida to connect the user needs of public safety to Florida’s planning.

The Florida consultation meeting was a successful engagement with the Sunshine State and a key next step in our efforts to plan for the deployment of a nationwide broadband network. I would like to thank Florida’s Single Point of Contact (SPOC), Terry Rhodes, for organizing the meeting and everyone who attended for exchanging dialogue on some really important issues facing FirstNet and the State as we move forward together to plan for and deploy the network.

The December 12 meeting was the ninth consultation meeting that we have held this year, including eight states and one territory. We are looking forward to a busy 2015 on the consultation front and have scheduled several additional meetings for early in the new year, starting with Nevada on January 7th.

Thanks
-Dave

FloridaNet has also posted slides from the event on their Website.