US Army signs up 72 bases for FirstNet

The U.S. Army’s public safety personnel will use AT&T-FirstNet services at 72 bases around the lower 48 states, plus Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

AT&T-FirstNet said it will be delivering delivering nearly 3,200 FirstNet service lines for the Army’s firefighters, military police and security personnel, along with more than 3,000 FirstNet-capable devices and more than 700 signal boosters to improve indoor connectivity. AT&T-FirstNet is also prepping the devices for use, including preloading multiple apps from the FirstNet store on the devices, the carrier added.

The Army will also have access to the FirstNet fleet of nearly 80 deployables, both vehicles and aircrafts, that are available to its users at no additional charge to assist in coverage for emergency response, or bolstering coverage and capacity for planned events.

The decision to sign on for large-scale AT&T-FirstNet services comes after a pilot program held this spring at Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point in North Carolina, where the Army tested FirstNet use for its fire and military police under storm conditions. AT&T-FirstNet said that the pilot also “allowed the Army to see the benefits of in-building signal boosters as well as FirstNet’s ease of use, resilience and the breadth of capabilities that could be available to each Army installation regardless of size or location.”

The Army also used FirstNet-capable routers to help with operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura striking Fort Polk in Louisiana. Those routers, the carrier said, were installed in camera-equipped vehicles that “provided Army operations and planners with near real time delivery of video despite the extreme weather conditions.”

https://www.rcrwireless.com/20201013/public-safety/us-army-signs-up-72-bases-for-firstnet