Key officials for APCO and AT&T express each entity’s support for Congress reauthorizing the FirstNet Authority, allowing the organization to continue to oversee and upgrade the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) beyond the current sunset date in February 2027.

BALTIMORE—Key officials for APCO and AT&T yesterday expressed each entity’s support for Congress reauthorizing the FirstNet Authority, allowing the organization to continue to oversee and upgrade the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) beyond the current sunset date in February 2027.

APCO CEO and Executive Director Mel Maier made his remarks during the opening keynote at the APCO 2025 event being conducted this week in Baltimore. Maier noted the key role that APCO played in the Public Safety Alliance coalition that advocated for Congress establishing the FirstNet Authority in February 2012 within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

“This has been a public-policy success,” Maier said, according to a transcript of this portion of his speech provided to IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “Today, millions of first responders throughout the nation rely on FirstNet to carry out their lifesaving missions.

“We urge Congress to permanently reauthorize FirstNet before its legislative sunset. No carve-outs, no compromises. The first responders who rely on FirstNet during emergencies deserve certainty and uninterrupted access to this high-speed broadband network.

“APCO has done the work, reviewing every report. Our position is clear: We remain fully committed to FirstNet as a single, unified network with the independent board leading the way."

Scott Agnew, president of the FirstNet business unit within AT&T—the contractor that has built and operated FirstNet since March 2017—echoed this sentiment.

“AT&T supports public safety’s position, which I think has been made very clear by 27 major public-safety organizations, including the Big Four,” Agnew said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “They have come out very clear that they’re interested in a clean reauthorization and for [FirstNet] to continue operating exactly how it’s operating today.

“AT&T is going to continue to stand behind public safety in that position.”

Last week, AT&T reported that FirstNet serves more than 30,300 public-safety agencies with more than 7.5 million connections. The connection figure has continued to increase by about 300,000 per quarter for the past several years.

Given this adoption rate, even critics of FirstNet have told IWCE’s Urgent Communications that they believe Congress ultimate will reauthorize the FirstNet Authority by the February 2027 deadline. However, there is considerably less agreement about when such a measure would pass and whether the organization’s current structure would remain unchanged.

One issue that remains unclear is how much legislative change could made during the reauthorization process without impacting the FirstNet Authority’s 25-year contract with AT&T. That agreement ensures that the NPSBN and the FirstNet Authority have sustainable funding into 2042—without any taxpayer revenue that would require approval from Congress.

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