Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber, closed day one of Metro Connect in Miami by sharing exclusive video from a FirstNet board meeting.
Hunter began with a poll of the audience-- asking if attendees knew of FirstNet. Only a few select hands raised.
Hunter then pressed play on his video- where the members of the FirstNet board, a 7-billion dollar government-funded start-up to create a wireless US network, were congregated and described their company as "a reverse start up" that would possibly be a 10-year span before they break even. The plan of the company is "to become a multi-billion dollar operation" though they don't have a management team in place yet. Permanent board seats include Director of Homeland Security, the US Attorney General and others.
"Largest telecom project in the history of this country"-- was a quote by the chairman Sam Ginn in the video.
Another board member stated "we've got to cover every square meter of the US with a wireless network." FirstNet is funded and was granted the 700 Mhz spectrum.
Hunter closed with key questions-- if there's a "fiber glut"-- and we have "4G wireless networks"-- why would the government pull this together? Is FirstNet a threat or an opportunity?
One audience member mentioned-- more reason for us to have a unified presence in Washington.
TNN On the Road will be blogging live from Metro Connect tomorrow, so make sure to tune in for Day 2 coverage.
