The Society of Cable Telecom Engineers approved an alert messaging standard for systems delivering emergency alerts to cable set-top boxes, digital cable ready TVs and PVRs, it said. The revised standard is at www.scte.org.
Wireless carriers and equipment makers told the FCC it should defer any decision on tougher E-911 location standards until an industry-public safety group can gather and meet to study the changes’ technological feasibility. The companies hope that the FCC will set up a working group modeled on the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee, which is looking at emergency alerts sent to cellphones. Comments were due this week in a second comment round on how to increase the accuracy of wireless E-911 (CD July 9 p5).
Public safety groups, supported by radio-maker Motorola, cautioned the FCC not to prohibit or restrict paging by public safety agencies using emergency response frequencies. The FCC is considering whether to restrict VHF public safety frequencies to just two-way voice calls. The FCC said in seeking comment on that proposal it has received interference complaints in the past about interference from paging, particularly to channels set aside for mutual aid.
Broadcasters and minority advocates agreed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency must do more to educate people about emergency alert systems (EASs), said a summary of a June 14 meeting brokered by the FCC. “There was some confusion about who played what role and general concern that FEMA” must do more outreach. Officials from NAB, the Independent Spanish Broadcasters Association, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) and Florida Association of Broadcasters met, summoned by the Public Safety Bureau to work toward a compromise on relaying alerts in languages other than English in disasters, storms and other emergencies. The meeting was mandated by an FCC order asking the parties to work out a way for broadcasters to carry alerts in languages other than English when foreign-language stations go off the air (CD July 13 p5). NAB officials told the meeting that they liked Florida’s model, in which the state emergency operations center uses Spanish-speaking interpreters to issue EAS alerts in that language. MMTC and other officials “strongly disputed that voluntary programs were sufficient to ensure adequately comprehensive multilingual EAS alerts and urged the Commission to take a more aggressive approach immediately,” the notes said. “Only NAB and Florida participants thought that voluntary programs would be sufficient to achieve universal or even widespread availability of multilingual EAS alerts.” A Florida broadcast official said disaster planning funds can be tough to get, adding that the state’s satellite-based alert distribution method “is relatively cheap,” said the note. Reacting to participants’ suggestions that the FCC involve more industries on EAS, the Public Safety Bureau said it will meet with cable operators, satellite providers and wireless cable companies.
BALTIMORE -- Public safety licensees shouldn’t expect waivers from the FCC if they blow 2008 deadlines on striking a deal with Sprint Nextel and reconfiguring 800 MHz radios, FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Derek Poarch warned Association of Public Safety Communications Officials. Parties to rebanding, including Sprint Nextel and public safety licensees, must work more efficiently to finish the job in 2008, as stipulated, he said.
The FCC should follow through on a recommendation that channels in the 900 MHz band be allocated to public safety for paging, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council said in a filing at the FCC. “Paging systems, possessing inherent redundancy, can be more reliable than voice/cellular systems,” the council said. “Significant efficiency is gained by group pages transmitting critical information to alert thousands of units at the same time.” The recommendation was by the Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications Networks. The council said all public safety groups should be allowed to benefit. “Digital paging capability in the 900 MHz band will provide meaningful assistance to public safety agencies beyond emergency medical response,” the council said. “The fire services need efficient means to notify responding members, particularly where agencies rely upon volunteer forces that must be summoned from work or residence. It would be counter to the Commission’s history and commitment to public safety communications to limit access to particular public safety responsibilities.” The channels are in the business and industrial/land transportation (B/ILT) bands at 896- 901/935-940. In a May filing, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance said public safety applications should be accommodated in areas where spectrum capacity exists, adding that the paging operation can conform to rules on B/ILT use.
The FCC likely will require wireless carriers choosing not to broadcast emergency alerts to subscribers to warn them of that, according to members of the FCC Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee, which met Wednesday. The group is on schedule to circulate a final report on Emergency Alert System warnings on cellphones in September, with approval before October 12, though issues remain unresolved.
State regulators at their summer meeting advanced four more telecom policy resolutions, on numbering, broadband data collection, IP relay fraud and broadband over power line cost accounting. The Telecom Committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) decided against resurrecting a fifth policy matter, a controversial resolution narrowly defeated by its staff subcommittee that would have urged that federal Universal Service Fund reforms be neutral regarding providers and technologies.
The International Trade Commission’s (ITC) order barring imports of new wireless devices containing Qualcomm chips could mean a $21.1 billion hit to the U.S. economy, said consultants to the company. The contention by the Brattle Group comes as Qualcomm and wireless carriers led by CTIA turn up pressure on President Bush to veto the ITC order.
The FCC hopes broadcasters and minority groups soon agree on how to alert non-English speakers to disasters, storms and the like using stations’ emergency alert systems (EASs). In six months, the FCC will issue a rulemaking on the matter, it said Thursday in an order voted on at its May meeting (CD June 1 p6). At the gathering, commissioners held off voting on a Minority Media & Telecom Council petition on Spanish-language EAS alerts to give the group and broadcasters time to compromise. The Council and other advocates wanted stations to translate warnings into Spanish and other tongues when a foreign-language station in a market is knocked off the air. Broadcasters want to get translations from authorities.