AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) are feuding over a plan to boost service for police, firefighters, and other state and local agencies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. AT&T is trying to convince regulators to give more wireless frequencies to FirstNet, a move Verizon says would amount to “a $14 billion gift” to its rival.
FirstNet launched in 2017 to connect emergency responders and other public-sector groups and is currently exclusively signed with AT&T for 25 years. Verizon has called the proposal a giveaway of spectrum valued at around $14 billion that would give AT&T a “substantial windfall,” the WSJ report said.
T-Mobile (TMUS) has also urged regulators to avoid a “FirstNet takeover” of the spectrum, but not as forcefully as Verizon, the report said. AT&T and its allies, which include several public-safety associations, say emergency responders need 5G service to keep up with data-hungry tools such as car cameras and flying drones. “Public safety needs higher speeds. It’s that simple,” said Jeff Johnson, a spokesman for the AT&T-aligned Public Safety Spectrum Alliance.
The proposal to expand that arrangement into a new spectrum band above 4.9 gigahertz lies at the heart of the debate, the report said. Verizon and its allies say the FCC should continue to offer those airwaves to state and local authorities instead of pulling in the national FirstNet Authority, which deals exclusively with AT&T.