ATIS, Industry Tell FCC of WEA Enhancement Concerns
Allowing longer wireless emergency alert (WEA) messages could be technically tricky, representatives from the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions Wireless Technologies and Systems Committee told FCC Public Safety Bureau staff, ATIS said in a filing posted Monday in docket 15-91.…
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Industry attendees came from AT&T, Comtech and Qualcomm: "As each 90 character message is independent, the messages may not be received in the order they were intended, and would rely upon the user to try to put the messages together in the correct order." On including URLs in WEAs, ATIS said "this may result in a large number of users simultaneously accessing a URL, which could result in network congestion," among other issues. ATIS offered “additional information about issues raised in its comments” on proposed changes to alerts, the group said. Its January comments expressed support for the expansion of the maximum permissible length of WEA messages from 90 to 360 characters and numbers, but said industry may need longer than the year proposed by the FCC to comply. ATIS warned that adding URLs or phone numbers to messages “could result in issues within the service provider infrastructure network and may increase the likelihood of severe network congestion resulting in the inability of subscribers to make calls.” ATIS supported Spanish alerts but opposed any requirement for other languages because of “technical challenges.”