LA-RICS reaches agreement with AT&T on transfer of region’s public-safety LTE network for FirstNet
Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) board members are scheduled to vote today on a proposed agreement that would transfer the LA-RICS public-safety LTE assets to AT&T, so they can be integrated into the FirstNet system, if California Gov. Jerry Brown makes an “opt-in” decision. Terms of the proposed agreement call for AT&T—FirstNet’s contractor to build and maintain the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN)—to pay LA-RICS $6 million for the regional authority’s existing public-safety LTE assets and another $6 million for infrastructure associated with a proposed network expansion. Expected to close in March or April, the proposed deal also calls for AT&T to provide LA-RICS as many as 3,300 replacement routers, SIMs and devices and $2.5 million in services to deploy the routers, SIMs and devices.
“LA-RICS leadership and technical engineers worked for weeks with AT&T leadership and engineers to put together an agreement that benefits all parties and greatly benefits the region’s ability to properly serve the 11 million residents of LA County, especially during a major emergency or disaster,” LA-RICS Executive Director Scott Edson said in a prepared statement.
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