An existing 3GPP registration mechanism allows for allocation of cell broadcast message identifiers for any use, including identifiers for emergency alerting and civic purposes required by ITU-T, the 3GPP said in a letter to a study group. The study group is trying to put a national registry of cell broadcast identifiers into place, said Dan Warren, director of technology at the GSM Association. 3GPP already has a similar registry in place, he said. Administration and allocation of multicast addresses for civic purposes is outside ITU-T’s scope, 3GPP said (CD March 23 p12). 3GPP wants a single registry for cell broadcast identifiers, said Stephen Hayes, chairman of 3GPP’s service and system aspects group. 3GPP and GSMA “have serious concerns” with the ITU-T proposal to “be administrators for the allocation of identifiers for emergency alerting for civic purposes,” 3GPP said. Having two registration mechanisms in the industry will cause confusion and may result in inconsistencies, 3GPP said. “It is crucial that the single, global registration mechanism already in place within 3GPP be retained.” 3GPP could reference identifiers developed by ITU-T, Hayes said. 3GPP’s registry could also be referenced in ITU-T’s, he said.
An HD Radio emergency alert system is in the works, iBiquity Digital, Sage Alerting Systems and BIA’s SpectraRep said Wednesday. They hope the system will help broadcasters offer emergency information to the public, government agencies such as public safety and people with special needs or those that live in specific geographic regions.
David Boyd, director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, said Wednesday the department is close to final decisions on how an emergency alert system for wireless devices will work. “Right now all of the major carriers have opted in and are working with us,” Boyd told the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council’s governing board. Two issues still must be worked through, he said. “How do you build a message 96 characters long that gets the reaction you want without causing reactions you don’t want,” Boyd said. The second is: “How do you go about aggregating this information so if the alert comes from a county or some other authorized source that you know who it is and know that they're authorized to make that alert.”
GENEVA -- Consensus on a distributed, discoverable Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) identifier namespace is crucial to getting the most out of emergency messaging, an executive said. A June World Meteorological Organization workshop aims to debate ways to handle emergency messages internationally, executives said. The FCC has ordered CAP use by all U.S. communications providers.
Standards group 3GPP has finalized the standardization of Long Term Evolution and 4G standard updates, which address public safety systems, are well under way, speakers said in a Tuesday webinar hosted by the Alliance for Telecom Industry Solutions. Femtocells are expected to be part of carriers’ LTE deployment, they said.
Broadcasters are more likely to indirectly benefit from the $7.2 billion the U.S. is spending for broadband stimulus than to get a chunk of the money directly from RUS and NTIA, said eight dealmakers, industry lawyers and officials we surveyed. They've not heard of any radio or TV station thinking of applying for grants. Some said stations stand to most benefit by getting contracts from grant winners to produce audio or video training materials and by leasing out tower space for other companies to use to hang wireless broadband transmission gear.
CTIA “strongly” opposed a petition by First Alert System Text that FAST’s emergency alert service be provided for free to all cellphones owned by Lifeline program participants. “The proposal advanced by FAST ignores a multi-year effort by the [Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee], the Commission, and other government agencies to establish and implement a comprehensive wireless mobile alerting system for American consumers,” CTIA said. “This omission does not appear to be inadvertent, as FAST itself participated in the FCC rulemaking concerning the development of a wireless emergency alert system.”
AT&T said the FCC should reject a request by First Alert System Text that FAST’s emergency alert service be provided free to all cellphones owned by Lifeline participants. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau had sought comment on a March 6 petition by FAST. “Although FAST seeks rules regarding a nationwide emergency alert text messaging system, wireless carriers have elected to provide emergency alerts consistent with the Commission’s standards and requirements for the Commercial Mobile Alert System that were adopted to implement the WARN Act,” AT&T said. “FAST’s Petition improperly asks the Commission to duplicate and revisit those standards and requirements.” AT&T said the FCC’s Lifeline rules don’t allow universal-service support to finance emergency alerts. USA Mobility also urged the FCC to reject the petition for rulemaking. “As an initial matter, the FAST proposal is legally deficient,” the paging operator said. “FAST does not provide detailed information regarding the particulars of its proposal, as required by … the Commission’s rules. Critically, FAST does not explain the statutory basis upon which the Commission might adopt the FAST proposal.”
The FCC fined a low-power FM station licensed to a college $9,600 for failing to install required emergency alert system equipment. The action came in an Enforcement Bureau forfeiture order against WRWS Daytona Beach, Fla., released Monday.
The FCC fined a low-power TV station licensed to a college $9,600 for failing to install required emergency alert system equipment. The action came in an Enforcement Bureau forfeiture order against WRWS Daytona Beach, Fla., released Monday.