FCC Approves Rules for Emergency Alerts to Cellphones
The FCC was poised to approve an order implementing the WARN Act, which would set up a national program allowing wireless carriers to broadcast emergency alerts to their subscribers, as we went to press. The FCC has a statutory obligation to act by Thursday. As a result, there likely will not be an agenda meeting Thursday, though the commission had not made an announcement to that effect by our deadline. The FCC can fulfill its obligation to meet this month instead at next week’s network management hearing at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Commissioners don’t object to the meeting being postponed, sources said.
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The order was expected to adopt recommendations largely as written by the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee, a wide-ranging group which held a series of meetings last year. A last-minute complication kept the order from being approved earlier in the year. In February, the Federal Emergency Management Agency warned the FCC that though FEMA has authority over emergency alerts from the president, it lacks power over warnings by state and local authorities. FEMA asked the FCC to hold off choosing a federal agency to oversee alerts to cellphones.
The commission had to address the FEMA objection, adding language to the order that fleshes out the record of FEMA’s involvement with the committee that developed the rules and calling on Congress to address FEMA’s concerns, commission sources said Wednesday. FEMA or NOAA are considered the most likely aggregators of federal emergency alerts.
Previously, the only controversial aspect had been Chairman Kevin Martin’s proposal that the rules require that carriers be capable of broadcasting alerts to areas smaller than counties. Several carriers had warned the FCC that this requirement could mean some would sit out the voluntary program. But Martin told reporters last month he was backing down from the request (CD March 21 p12).
The FCC also has approved by electronic vote a notice of inquiry regarding 911 call-forwarding requirements and carriers’ blocking options for non-initialized phones. The notice examines the responsibilities carriers and public safety answering points have regarding 911 calls from old phones no longer part of a valid service plan. And the FCC approved an order authorizing Globalstar’s ancillary terrestrial component authorization. Both also were scheduled for a vote at the Thursday meeting.