Martin Pulls Controversial EAS Rulemaking from December Agenda
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told fellow commissioners in an official communication that the agency won’t vote at the Dec. 18 agenda meeting on rules for emergency alert system warnings to cellphones and other wireless devices. Martin hopes for a vote before the meeting, though some fellow commissioners still are studying concerns raised by wireless carriers, sources said Tuesday.
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Under the WARN Act, carriers will decide next year whether to opt in to a program for sending emergency alerts to subscribers. Martin is proposing rules that would require carriers to be able to deliver messages to geographic areas smaller than counties - contradicting a recommendation of the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee, which drew up the proposed rules (CD Dec 4 p4).
“This has been become a big issue for carriers,” said a wireless industry source. “They don’t think this is something they can easily implement and they're going to the FCC to make their case.” The CTIA reported on meetings it and major carriers held with eighth floor staffers raising concerns about geo-targeting. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile took part in the meetings.
“Over 11 months, five main committees and their subcommittees generated over 600 numbered documents, and held hundreds of meetings to discuss in detail each carefully considered point,” the carriers said. “Industry players volunteered the services of their best and brightest messaging experts who spent thousands of hours generating contributions, and evaluating the feasibility of various alerting solutions.” But after months of work the committee endorsed more precise geo-targeting, to be carried out only gradually, starting in some of the nation’s largest counties rather than nationwide.