Carriers Say Cost of EAS Mandate Would Be High

As part of an EAS rulemaking released last year, the FCC proposed extending mandates to wireless carriers, which has been controversial since proposed. The FCC already extended national warning system rules to digital broadcast and cable TV, digital audio broadcasting, satellite radio and DBS -- previously not subject to EAS system controls. Carrier sources said Wed. the FCC is working its way through the complicated set of issues presented in the EAS proceeding, but staff members appear open minded.

Imposing an EAS mandate on wireless carriers could “cause more harm than good,” especially since little research demonstrates that alerts to wireless handsets would actually improve public safety, Cingular said: “EAS messages would reduce capacity on wireless networks, thereby inhibiting the ability of these networks to carry non-EAS emergency traffic during a crisis.”

Cingular said public officials already have top priority on wireless networks through the wireless priority access service (WPS). “WPS does not improve access by the general public, however, and it would be unfortunate if the general public’s ability to use wireless networks was degraded further during emergency situations due to CMRS EAS alerts,” the carrier said.

Sprint Nextel agreed that the delivery of “even thousands of point-to-point messages” would clog networks, threatening the ability of subscribers to place calls when alerts are broadcast through SMS or text messaging. “In the event of an emergency, the occurrence itself will likely create a ‘mass calling event,’ stressing wireless carriers’ network resources,” Sprint said. “To add mandatory delivery of alerts could cause an even greater hit to carriers’ networks, at least as currently designed.”

T-Mobile said the technology for CMRS-based EAS is uncertain since wireless is a “point-to-point” service, not point to multi-point like TV or radio. No other point-to-point service has been subject to an EAS mandate, T-Mobile said. The cost of retrofitting networks or creating new handsets to handle EAS would be huge, the company said. “No other provider subject to EAS requirements has faced or would face such costs,” the carrier said. “Wireless carriers should not be asked to shoulder this burden without federal support.”

In introducing the rulemaking in Nov., all 4 FCC commissioners called the order the first step of many in an EAS reform that will take into account both new technology and language diversity (CD Nov 4 p4).

CTIA warned that ability to broadcast emergency messages would vary widely among carriers. “Under the existing capability, any alert message must conform to certain character restrictions,” CTIA said: “Further, not all subscribers have access to the service and not all existing operational handsets are SMS capable.” The Rural Cellular Assn. said the Communications Act doesn’t specifically authorize the FCC to require that telecom carriers carry emergency messages and the Commission could be violating federal law if it approves a mandate.

But the NCTA said wireless carriers should be included. An EAS system with “a variety of modes” that includes cellular and other wireless devices, in addition to TV and radio, “is likely to be more pervasive and effective” than a system relying completely on the override of audio or video programming watched primarily in the home, NCTA said.

Satellite firms reiterated concerns about technical parameters inherent to satellite transmission that make localism difficult. Satellites’ national nature renders local alerts nearly impossible for DBS, satellite radio and Fixed Satellite Services, they said (CD Jan 4 p9). Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) giants Intelsat, PanAmSat and SES Americom filed jointly, asking the FCC not to require FSS to distribute state and local EAS alerts on DTH video transmissions. A DTH service provider using an FSS satellite uplinks programming from a national headend for transmission an entire footprint of subscribers, making local alerts impossible, the FSS operators argued. Comments from EchoStar, DirecTV and XM highlighted the same satellite distribution trouble.

But satellite players were eager to highlight satellite’s point-to-multipoint ubiquity in the context of the Commission’s inquiry into a national, satellite-based EAS distribution network. “Satellites already carry a significant volume of data, voice and IP-based traffic for entities requiring the same type of distribution envisioned in the FNRPM,” the FSS operators said. Satellites could distribute national EAS alerts to service providers for onward transmission to the public, they said. In a similar vein, XM said it could provide state and local alerts, but only “to the extent that a single entity were established to collect and transmit all state and local EAS alerts, or if state and local EAS sources were to transmit alerts directly to XM.” Without a central clearinghouse of alerts for XM to tap into, “it is impractical for XM to participate,” the firm said.

The NCTA also urged the Commission to centralize EAS alerting. There should be “one, coordinated, fully- integrated nationwide public alert and warning system to displace the multi-layered governmental alerting process in place today,” NCTA told the FCC. An overarching national system is the best course for EAS, NCTA said, knocking the current “daisy-chain” approach in which one broadcast station may fail to pass on an EAS message to other broadcasters or cable operators further down the chain. NCTA advocated “a more streamlined” system -- like the National Weather Service delivering messages directly to broadcast and cable transmitters or headend facilities.

Broadcasters had mixed views on centralized EAS distribution via point-to-multipoint. The NAB said point- to-multipoint delivery of EAS “has merit” in satisfying the first step of getting an alert from an EOC to the media. But implementation of a centralized EAS system depends on specific requirements and funding in each state, the NAB said. Satellite distribution is expensive and Internet distribution isn’t reliable, the NAB said. “Broadcasters continue to be the most reliable and robust” means of alert distribution, the NAB argued. In the digital EAS world of the future, wireless carriers and others could monitor local broadcasters to obtain digital EAS data to pass on to subscribers, NAB suggested, advocating a common alerting protocol.