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FCC sets rules for emergency mobile alerts

The Federal Communications Commission has adopted rules for the delivery of commercial mobile alerts to the public during emergencies.

The FCC's Commercial Mobile Alert System's First Report and Order will let U.S. wireless carriers to send timely and accurate alerts, warnings and critical information to consumers' mobile phones during disasters and other emergencies.

"This system has the potential to significantly impact the way Americans receive critical warnings on-the-go, whether they are at home, work or vacationing," said FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin in a statement from Washington.

"As we go forward, given the important public safety purpose that these alerts serve, I encourage wireless providers to participate fully in this valuable system," he said.

Consumers can expect to get three types of messages through their mobile phones and devices from participating carriers.

The first is Presidential Alerts, where national emergency-related alerts are delivered to the U.S. public that would preempt any other pending alerts.

Imminent Threat Alerts is the next category. This reflects alerts with information on emergencies that may pose an imminent risk to people's lives or well-being.

Finally, there's the Child Abduction Emergency/AMBER Alerts. These alerts are related to missing or endangered children due to an abduction or runaway situation.

The First Report and Order is in compliance with the Warning, Alert and Response Network Act (WARN Act). It also adopts the relevant technical requirements based on the recommendations of the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee for the transmission of these messages to the public.

"No one questions the value that an effective Commercial Mobile Alert System will have on the safety and welfare of the American public," Mr. Martin said.

"Accordingly, we welcomed the challenge offered to us by the WARN Act as an opportunity to meet our public safety obligations under the Communications Act and to achieve one of our top priorities -- an effective alert system for wireless devices," he said.

Consumers often resort to mobile phone calls or texts during emergencies. Once fully implemented, the nation's Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) will make sure that consumers who subscribe to participating wireless carriers receive an alert during emergencies.

Consumers can opt out of receiving the alerts.

With evolving technology, the CMAS may include audio and video services to send emergency alerts to the public.

People with disabilities will be able to receive these alerts through messages delivered with vibration cadence and audio attention signals.

Participating carriers will be required to comply with the rules adopted in the order within 10 months from the date of an announcement that a Federal agency has been chosen to collect and send the alerts to the carriers.

"By adopting technical requirements for the wireless alerting system today, we are enabling wireless providers that choose to participate in this system to begin designing their networks to deliver mobile alerts," Mr. Martin said.

"It would have been better, of course, if we had a Federal entity in place now to take on the role of alert aggregator and gateway," he said. "We are hopeful that we have initiated the dialogue that will allow an appropriate Federal entity to assume that central role in an expeditious manner."