Agencies Including FEMA Press FCC to Mandate Multimedia as Part of Wireless Alerts
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Harris County, Texas, said the FCC should mandate that carriers be able to transmit multimedia content in wireless emergency alerts. Comments are due Tuesday on a Public Safety Bureau notice seeking to update the…
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record (see 1803280029) on feasibility of carriers including multimedia content in WEAs, and early filings are starting to appear in docket 15-91. “We must continue to look at ways to improve the WEA system to create a strong and adaptable tool,” Harris County said. “Pictures provide instant recognition and speak a universal language. Most importantly, they enable rapid response from every potential witness who could save countless lives through fast action. With the network upgrades to 5G, capacity for multimedia messages will be even greater, and we would be remiss not to advocate for multimedia capabilities for WEA to be in place as this upgrade occurs.” FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Office also backed the change in alerting rules. It's already “technically feasible” to include multimedia in alerts and the cost would be minimal to public safety, FEMA said. “Forthcoming improvements to provide targeted messaging, increase character count, provide a Spanish-language function, and test the system will increase WEA’s utility to local authorities,” said the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization serving the Portland, Oregon, area. “However, additional multimedia enhancements are still needed to ensure emergency warnings are correctly understood by the public -- specifically the ability to send an image in a WEA message and provide alerts in languages other than English and Spanish.”