- T-Mobile and Verizon are competing to offer 5G network slices tailored for public safety agencies
- Verizon Frontline’s new slicing service is available in more than a couple dozen U.S. markets but not yet nationwide
- AT&T’s FirstNet doesn’t offer slicing but touts an all-band, purpose-built solution for first responders
Competition in the public safety market has increased ever since AT&T won the contract to provide the network for the FirstNet Authority – and now it’s getting even hotter in the 5G era as carriers roll out more advanced technologies like network slicing.
To wit: T-Mobile formally launched T-Priority, which includes network slicing for public safety, on February 20 after unveiling it last September. Last week, Verizon Frontline announced the availability of its 5G network slices for first responders in select markets.
Coincidence? Not exactly. But Verizon said it’s been working nearly 18 months in close collaboration with public safety agencies in cities across the country to rigorously test and refine its 5G network slicing technology. Therefore, its network slicing launch isn’t a direct response to T-Mobile’s T-Priority, a Frontline representative told Fierce.
Indeed, Verizon Frontline President Maggie Hallbach told Fierce during an interview at Mobile World Congress in early March that the company was preparing network slices for public safety but that not all slices are created equal.
“Verizon has been very focused on application performance. What we've been focused on for slicing is not priority and preemption because we've had priority and preemption since 2019,” she said, noting that wasn’t the case for some of its rivals – throwing a little shade at T-Mobile.
“What we've been focused on is very specific sets of public safety applications like Axon body camera footage that those agencies want to ensure they get a very, very high level of quality,” she said.
Using video from a body camera as an example, she said they’ve been working on removing any jitter or delays in both the upload and download sides of the equation so public safety professionals won’t lose the video feed in situations where every second counts. The slicing service uses Verizon’s C-band and millimeter wave spectrum and basically ensures that public safety users get dedicated network capacity to meet their mission-critical needs.
It's worth noting that Verizon Frontline is not claiming that its network slicing service for public safety is nationwide. The slicing service is tied to 5G standalone (SA) technology, which T-Mobile launched nationwide in 2020. Verizon hasn’t yet announced the nationwide commercial availability of 5G SA. In its press release about the slicing service, Verizon listed nearly 30 markets where Verizon Frontline Network Slice is now available.
Here's what T-Mobile is saying
During T-Mobile’s Q1 2025 earnings call last week, T-Mobile’s Callie Field said T-Priority is one of the most exciting growth opportunities ever for the Business Group that she oversees at T-Mobile, declaring Q1 as the “all-time best ever” quarter for first responders with T-Priority. (It bears noting that T-Mobile had next to zero market share in the public safety market until the 5G era.)
Besides the City of New York that was announced earlier this year, T-Mobile is now serving the City of Las Vegas and the Oklahoma City Police Department and “so many more,” she said.
“Our funnels are up 50% year over year,” she said. “It really is a pretty fantastic solution for first responders.”
She also reminded everyone that “it is the only truly nationwide slice available for first responders on a 5G standalone core architecture,” a dig at Verizon Frontline’s more geographically limited slicing service.
FirstNet: 'Doing it the right way'
Where is AT&T’s FirstNet service in all of this? To hear AT&T and the FirstNet Authority tell it, FirstNet is in a league of its own. AT&T was awarded the 25-year FirstNet contract in 2017.
“FirstNet is not a commercial network – or even a slice of one,” AT&T said in a statement provided to Fierce. “An entire program built from the ground up, we are committed to advancing FirstNet for public safety – and doing it the right way. FirstNet gives first responders an all-band solution with always-on priority and preemption across all AT&T 5G and 4G commercial spectrum, as well as public safety’s dedicated Band 14 spectrum.”
But slicing? Again, that comes with a 5G SA core and AT&T hasn’t announced a nationwide deployment of that yet. Analysts expect AT&T will move to 5G SA in the second half of 2025.
According to AT&T, the network slicing will come “one day,” but they’re not saying when. Until then, FirstNet has enough capacity to support every first responder in the country with a “dedicated and highly secure platform” that’s purpose-built for their unique needs, the company said.
Take that, Verizon and T-Mobile. Somehow, we’re sure we haven’t heard the last of it.