Short answer
If downtime affects revenue or operations, yes. FirstNet treats a primary link plus a diverse backup as the default design for revenue-impacting sites, because even business fibre can fail through last-mile cuts, provider outages or congestion.
In detail
The level of redundancy should match your risk. FirstNet sizes it by asking what happens if the internet is down for two hours, or a full day:
- Single primary link: for non-critical sites where some downtime is tolerable and the risk is consciously accepted.
- Primary plus diverse backup: fibre paired with licensed microwave, fixed wireless or LTE for fast failover.
- Dual fibre on different carriers: ideally on diverse physical routes, for high bandwidth and carrier redundancy.
- SD-WAN across two diverse links: typically one fibre and one wireless, with automatic failover and traffic steering.
- LEO satellite: an independent path for remote or highly critical sites.
Diversity is what makes a backup useful. A second link on the same network or in the same trench can fail with the primary, so FirstNet, as a carrier-agnostic provider, places backups on different carriers or media. A fibre cut needs physical repair, and a well-designed backup keeps traffic flowing while that happens.
Source: FirstNet Connectivity service page →
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