GENEVA -- Many solutions have emerged for disaster relief and early warning, but obstacles remain to better global coordination for disaster relief and early warning, said officials meeting Thurs. at the ITU here. Coordination among international entities seems “woefully missing at this point,” said Ken Smith of Verizon, speaking as reporting member for SG2, ITU-T’s lead study group for telecom for disaster relief and early warning. “And one of the things that we will specifically be focusing on… is to find a way to involve D sector, R (ITU Radio) sector and other ITU organizations in the development of the plan for these types of services.”

A national emergency alert system was set in motion by a law President Bush signed Fri. giving the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) 6 months to set up warning procedures. The wireless industry embraced the law’s voluntary process as preferable to a mandatory path being considered in an FCC rulemaking. Carriers opting out of the system must tell customers only that devices they use won’t carry the alerts.

TIA welcomed passage of emergency alert legislation, part of a port security bill passed last week. The Warning, Alert & Response Network Act establishes a national emergency alert system, allotting it $106 million. The bill will underwrite an effective system to warn Americans of war, terror attacks, disasters and other hazards, said TIA Pres. Matthew Flanigan. CTIA Pres. Steve Largent applauded the bill, saying it will create an “effective partnership between the wireless industry and the federal government to provide the most practical means of emergency communication.”

The Senate Tues. passed 95-0 a measure authorizing a nationwide emergency alert system (EAS) to send warnings to a variety of communications devices. Once a freestanding bill, the Warn Act (S-1753), the measure was attached by Sen. DeMint (R-S.C.) to the port security bill. The wireless industry backs it as an alternative to an ongoing FCC rulemaking that would make the system mandatory.

FCC Chmn. Martin tried to reassure dubious Senate Democrats during his renomination hearing Tues. that the agency will take a fresh approach to its media ownership rulemaking. He won points for scheduling the first of 6 planned field hearings in Cal. -- a nod to Senate Commerce Committee member Boxer (D-Cal.) who has been critical of the agency’s pace in taking up the proceeding (CD Sept 12 p4).

Emergency alert legislation could be enacted as part of the port security bill moving through the Senate, key House and Senate committee staffers said Fri. at an FCBA lunch. Sen. DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced the Warning, Alert & Response Network (WARN) Act as an amendment to the port bill (HR-4954) Thurs. The Senate Commerce Committee approved the Warn Act by unanimous consent Oct. 20. It establishes a network for transmitting alerts across communications including cellphones, BlackBerrys, Internet, TV, radio and satellite TV.

XM told the FCC it’s working with several U.S. agencies on emergency alerts. The FCC is weighing an order on state and local emergency alert system (EAS) matters, XM said. The satellite radio operator is helping upgrade the Presidential level EAS by providing XM receivers to U.S. primary entry points (PEPs) and state emergency operations centers, it said. XM also is working with FEMA and NOAA on the Digital Emergency Alert System-National Capital Region pilot program, officials said in an FCC ex parte meeting. Meanwhile, XM is developing a crank radio capable of receiving XM broadcasts during power outages, officials said. XM will carry national EAS messages on all its channels, and state and local alerts on its traffic and weather channels, it said.

EchoStar may need 12-18 months after creation of a Dept. of Homeland Security emergency alert portal to upgrade its network for disseminating local alerts, it told the FCC. In separate meetings, DirecTV predicted a 12-month lag. EchoStar told the FCC set-top boxes now in production could be capable of generating a text pop-up EAS message and an audible tone -- assuming DHS’s portal uses certain technical protocols and message limits. DHS hasn’t defined protocol specifications for a central EAS portal it’s working on, EchoStar said. DHS should perform a coordinated EAS test among multiple platforms before implementing its final system, it said. Sirius and XM are assessing the utility of sending local alerts via their national satellite platforms. Sirius told FCC staff it could send alerts if DHS aggregates and authenticates them at a central portal. State or local alerts would air on one of 11 Sirius traffic and weather channels, it said. Those channels cover 20 U.S. metro areas, Sirius said: “If federal agencies make available consolidated and authenticated information regarding emergencies affecting one of those cities, Sirius has volunteered to broadcast such an alert on the appropriate channel.” Sirius said subscribers could be warned that an emergency alert is being broadcast on another channel much as “game alerts” air on certain Sirius radios. Current receivers wouldn’t be capable of such an alert cue, but that could be technically feasible on future units, Sirius said.

DirecTV and EchoStar told the FCC they're working on delivering local emergency alerts to customers -- but their efforts depend on the Dept. of Homeland Security’s future emergency alert portal. DirecTV and EchoStar have been meeting with DHS staff to discuss plans, they said. Providing local alerts will require “significant” software design and development and possibly infrastructure changes by the DBS operators, and because DBS providers have a nationwide footprint and no presence in local communities, a centralized alert portal is key, the DBS operators said. DHS is planning such a portal -- where all emergency alerts will be aggregated for dissemination through all EAS outlets. EchoStar and DirecTV said they must know DHS’s exact plans before they can act. The DBS providers are contemplating using a pop-up overlay generated by a customer’s set-top box for emergency alerting, they said. DHS staff seem to understand “the technical limitations of providing regional or local messages on a DBS system, and they expressed a willingness to consider these limitations as they continue to work through the development of an aggregated emergency alert system,” DirecTV and EchoStar told the FCC. Once basic issues are resolved, DBS engineers can start to work on software necessary to send alert messages to individual set- top boxes, the firms said. After DHS defines its alert delivery and format parameters, it will probably take a year to develop any local and regional DBS requirements, DirecTV and EchoStar said.

AT&T plans to participate in the emergency alert system (EAS) as an IP video provider, but “technical challenges remain,” company officials told FCC Comr. Tate in an ex parte meeting last week. “IP video is still a nascent technology and technical challenges remain in implementing EAS over this technology,” AT&T Senior Vp Bob Quinn and Vp Thomas Hughes told Tate and legal adviser Aaron Goldberger. “AT&T is working with vendors to develop the appropriate equipment due to the fact that only a limited set of current EAS system receivers provide alert information in IP format,” A report on the Aug. 16 meeting said: “In addition, AT&T’s IP video vendors have not yet developed the proxy server capability to route EAS messages to the appropriate end user.” Due to these technical “challenges,” the FCC should ensure there’s “sufficient time to allow implementation,” AT&T said, suggesting no deadlines earlier than Dec. 31, 2007. AT&T also urged the agency not to “unduly restrict the manner in which IP service providers distribute and display emergency information or that otherwise restrict innovation in this area.”