They are probably building the base network for $6B.
New York tried (and failed) to build a similar network in the early 2000s... and the cost was supposed to be like $2B. For the whole country... that's easily a $100B project.
There's a lot more to this than just having "another internet". They need to be able to collaborate with multiple jurisdictions, handle overlap between jurisdictions (i.e., State Highway Patrol, County Sheriff, city PD, various federal agencies, from GSA and VA police to the FBI), hook into other radio systems, etc.
There are already systems in place to allow essential communications to take place during crises on the public networks. People get issued an ID number that will give their call priority.
New York tried (and failed) to build a similar network in the early 2000s... and the cost was supposed to be like $2B. For the whole country... that's easily a $100B project.
There's a lot more to this than just having "another internet". They need to be able to collaborate with multiple jurisdictions, handle overlap between jurisdictions (i.e., State Highway Patrol, County Sheriff, city PD, various federal agencies, from GSA and VA police to the FBI), hook into other radio systems, etc.
There are already systems in place to allow essential communications to take place during crises on the public networks. People get issued an ID number that will give their call priority.