In a wide-ranging interview this week at the MoffettNathanson’s 6th Annual Media & Communications Summit in New York City, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer John Stephens discussed how the carrier’s deployment of FirstNet lays the foundation for nationwide 5G coverage by mid-2020.
FirstNet, a dedicated LTE network for public safety users, passed 600,000 “connections” earlier this month from engagements with more than 7,000 public safety agencies. According to AT&T, FirstNet is 25% faster than any domestic commercial networks; that claim is based on Ookla test data covering average download speeds in Q1 2019.