STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI
Re: Procedures for Commission Review of State-Opt Out Request from the FirstNet Radio Access 
Network, PS Docket No. 16-269.
Today, the Commission takes a significant step forward in carrying out its responsibilities to help 
the First Responder Network Authority, or FirstNet, establish a nationwide, interoperable public safety 
broadband network.  We establish procedures and timelines governing a state’s decision to opt out of 
FirstNet’s radio access network, or RAN, and to construct, maintain, and operate a RAN on its own 
initiative.  We also lay out the criteria for evaluating, and ultimately approving or disapproving, any 
alternative plans from states that elect to opt-out.
We could not have reached this milestone without the leadership of Congress and the efforts of 
many individuals in both the private and public sectors. From the beginning, the FCC has played a 
collaborative role to help realize Congress’s vision.  In the past five years, the Commission has allocated 
spectrum for use by a nationwide public safety broadband network. It’s granted a spectrum license to 
FirstNet.  It’s established a technical advisory board for first responder interoperability.  It’s approved and 
transmitted technical requirements to FirstNet.  And now, with this Order, we fulfill our latest statutory 
responsibility.
This is just one more piece of an overarching and ongoing plan to ensure that when the next 
disaster strikes, our first responders in the field—our call center dispatchers, EMTs, police officers, and 
firemen—will have the tools they need to save lives.
I would like to thank David Furth, Behzad Ghaffari, Brian Marenco, Roberto Mussenden, Erika 
Olsen, and Rasoul Safavian from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and Keith McCrickard 
and Bill Richardson from the Office of General Counsel for their continued efforts to help our nation’s 
first responders protect the public.