AT&T, FirstNet providing support for first responder communication during 2026 Men's World Cup

As first responders in metro Atlanta prepare for the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup, a major cell phone provider is making sure emergency personnel can stay connected.

FirstNet, a partnership between the federal government and AT&T, was established by Congress after Sept. 11 to make sure emergency workers had reliable communication during emergencies.

FirstNet will have a presence in all U.S. host cities during the World Cup.

Mark Durr is part of the FirstNet Response Operations Group — a team of former military and first responders who set up the equipment where it's needed. He said if something impacted the network, first responders would still have the ability to communicate and do their jobs.

According to Durr, the equipment will be on standby during the tournament and ready to go.

"If there is a network failure, we can remotely fire that asset up because it's going to be in a hot standby mode," Durr said. "It will not be live on air, but if something does happen, we can remotely fire that asset up and help our first responders with communications."

Durr said they've been working with local and federal officials on this for about a year.

"I've been going to meetings once a month and talking to Atlanta PD and all of our agencies, including the federal sides," Durr said. "So anybody that's on the first net, network will get prioritization during the event."

He said this equipment was recently used during April's South Georgia Wildfires.

"That was a huge impact for the public safety and GEMA that was out there conducting search and rescue operations and trying to maintain those fires," Durr said.

FirstNet is separate from AT&T's commercial network. While Durr focuses on making sure first responders are connected in the event of an emergency, he said they don't anticipate any issues with AT&T's network during the World Cup.