FirstNet updates the state-plan portals, but official state-plan delivery—the action needed to start the statutory 90-day decision window for most governors—must wait until the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) provides its expected construction-grant funding levels for each state and territory.
NTIA acknowledged that its construction-grant funding level—money that only would be distributed under an “opt-out” scenario—for states and territories is the missing item, but the agency hopes to have release the figures “in the near term, an NTIA spokesperson said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.
FirstNet today released the following statement regarding situation:
“In the near future, FirstNet expects to deliver the required official notification to Governors in the 53 states and territories that have received updated state plans today,” according to the FirstNet statement. “This notification will start the 90-day period for governors to decide whether to participate in the deployment of the network in the state or territory as proposed in the FirstNet-AT&T plan (‘opt in’) or elect to have their state or territory initiate the process to take on the responsibility for building the network in the state or territory (‘opt out’).”
As the FirstNet statement indicates, the official state-plan delivery is imminent for all 50 states and three territories. Initial state plans have not been delivered to the three U.S. territories in the South Pacific—Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands—which are expected to have a separate FirstNet timeline.
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