Wireless technology will play an increasingly important role in homeland security, FCC and industry officials agreed at a panel discussion during the CTIA show in New Orleans late Tues. But they said hurdles stood in the way of resolving many spectrum and other problems.
The International Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Assn. (CEAS) announced formation of the international Working Group for Advance Warnings to create early warning systems for major natural disasters. The group, consisting of major telecom firms and regulatory bodies, will develop and deploy a global early warning system to alert and advise “citizens-at-risk” of impending disasters via cellular broadcast messaging technology. CEAS said the group at first would be “limited to the dissemination of seismic event warning generated by the proposed United Nations tsunami warning program.” But CEAS said it could expand its brief to include an early warning system for “all manmade and natural disaster events.” Members include Science Applications International Corp., VeriSign, LogicaCMG, CellCast Communications, Microsoft Map Point and the Cell Broadcast Forum.
T-Mobile announced successful receipt and retransmission of emergency alert messages to select wireless phones, in a pilot study to improve the nation’s emergency alert system (EAS). The company said it and other service providers, including Cingular and Nextel, had joined with the Dept. of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which manages the national EAS system, to work on the pilot. The pilot program, called the Digital Emergency Alert System, last week tested a series of messages in the National Capitol Region, T-Mobile said. It said the pilot was to demonstrate how the federal govt. can use the digital public TV network to deliver emergency alerts to wireless phones, handheld devices and personal computers, including via text messaging. Pilot project participants also include the Assn. of Public TV stations and PBS. “Once the tests are completed, participants will share their technical results with FEMA,” which will “use this information to determine how and whether to proceed with an upgrade of the national EAS system,” T-Mobile said.
UNIVERSAL CITY, Cal. -- The lack of concrete FCC content rules continues to create an air of unease for PBS’s local stations, PBS CEO Pat Mitchell told TV critics here Sat. When the pubcaster sends out programs to its 170 licensees, she said, “we are sending out the version that we think complies with the guidelines as best we understand them. And the chilling effect that we're all worried about is exactly that; when they're not hard and fast and totally clear-cut, you do find yourself making decisions, second-guessing. And we do worry about that, along with our producers.”
The communications industry is aiding relief efforts in the areas devastated by the recent Asian tsunami by donating equipment, services and financial aid. Companies are working with the Red Cross, World Health Organization and United Nations to help in Indonesia and the hardest hit areas of the Indian Ocean region, officials told us.
The FCC affirmed a $25,000 forfeiture against A-O Bcstg. and rejected its petition for reconsideration. The payment was for violating RF exposure limits at the transmit site for the former KTMN(FM) Cloudcroft, N.M. (CD Dec 30/03 p9), and for failing to have Emergency Alert System equipment. The A-O fine was the first the FCC imposed for violating RF exposure limits.
Emergency Alert System (EAS) alerts should be issued at the local broadcasters’ discretion to avoid burdening the public with irrelevant and excessive alerts, State Bcstg. Assns. (SBA) said in reply comments on FCC’s review of EAS. “Mandatory participation is also not the panacea to an effective EAS,” SBA said. The group also urged the FCC to stop cable operators from overriding or blocking local weather warnings. Local officials aren’t adding any value through the local alert system when they air “a plain vanilla” alert after blanking out a station that has more accurate information, SBA said.
The FCC reduced the fine against gospel radio station WBLB(AM), Pulaski, Va., for violations of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) requirements from $8,000 to $1,500. The Commission reduced the fine because the station brought its EAS equipment into compliance. The small station has an unblemished FCC compliance history and showed that the fine would pose a financial hardship, the FCC said.
EchoStar said it can’t receive, process and relay emergency alerts to the 550 Emergency Alert System (EAS) local areas. “The difficulties of obtaining this capability are likely insurmountable,” EchoStar said in reply comments on the FCC’s review of EAS. The company wouldn’t specify the costs of such a system, an EchoStar spokesman said, saying only that the price in resources and bandwidth would be “nearly inestimable.”
An FCC study of alternatives to emergency alert system regulations “should not delay the Commission” from providing EAS relief for small cable systems, the American Cable Assn. (ACA) said in an FCC filing. ACA Pres. Matt Polka said small cable systems already are under “enormous financial and competitive pressures” and can’t handle additional EAS costs: “Without expedited action, hundreds of systems will face a serious compliance crisis.” In fact, ACA said in its comments, “the costs of installing EAS equipment will force many very small systems to shut down,” meaning no cable EAS alerts will be delivered in those communities. ACA said “hundreds” of one-year waivers for small cable systems of costly EAS requirements will expire in less than a year. In the meantime, it said, EAS equipment costs won’t decrease. It suggested a blanket waiver of the rules until Oct. 1, 2007, for systems with less than 1,000 subscribers.