The FCC should consider paging services as it develops a redundant multiplatform emergency alert system (EAS), USA Mobility told the agency. As the FCC readies a further NPRM, it should recall that “paging networks offer distinct features which lead to broad geographic coverage, high reliability and low cost,” the firm said. After Hurricane Katrina, one-way paging and 2-way text messaging were “among the most reliable methods of electronic communication available,” said Mobile USA. The storm interrupted operations at 291 of the firm’s towers along the Gulf Coast, bu USA Mobile restored ground-level service throughout most of the area within 48 hours, enabling first responders to “communicate when other wireline and wireless networks were not functioning,” the firm said. USA Mobile said its system’s design ensures operation in crisis because: (1) Its narrowband PCS network simulcasts messages from multiple towers, easing the impact of a service interruption at one location. (2) The one-way paging network relies on satellite communications to backhaul traffic to each tower, and the 2-way paging network relies on satellite to backhaul traffic to and from each tower. This leaves paging services far less dependent on wireline infrastructure than most cellular services. (3) Paging antennas are located far higher on towers than cellular ones, so paging signals travel farther. (4) The paging network operates at higher power than cellular, enabling wider coverage and deeper penetration into buildings. “The comparatively low prices of one-way and 2-way paging devices and monthly service plans enable federal, state and local government agencies facing budget pressures to equip emergency officials with reliable communications tools,” USA Mobile said: “The long backup battery power associated with paging services also makes them an important and reliable tool for first responders.” Meanwhile, the Rural Cellular Assn. (RCA) warned the FCC of short messaging service and cell broadcast technology’s capacity limitations. The RCA urged study of integration into cellular handsets of a supplemental reception capability so subscribers opting into the service can receive messages broadcast on the national weather alert radio network. Messages important to all would be received by all, RCA said. Local messages would be received from the National Weather Service (NWS) station closest to the cellphone user, it said: “Such a delivery system would be most effective if the wireless network would dynamically program the Specific Area Message Encoding code that corresponds to the area being sent an alert by a local national weather station into the supplemental NWS receiver in the handset as that handset moves from cell to cell.”
The wireless industry is watching with concern FCC moves to create a new Homeland Security Bureau, speakers said at a FCBA lunch in Washington. As the FCC prepares a further NPRM on whether to make wireless part of the more robust, multi-modal alert system, speakers warned that the industry doesn’t need another mandate. “To the extent that there is a consumer demand, you are going to see us all responding,” Verizon Wireless Deputy Gen. Counsel John Scott said: “Regulations would restrain carriers from moving ahead.”
Satellite radio licensees should comply with FCC Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules, 21 House lawmakers, including Majority Whip Blunt (R-Mo.), said in a letter to FCC Chmn. Martin and Comrs. Abernathy, Copps and Adelstein. As the FCC considers its order to modify EAS rules, it should require satellite radio providers to comply with EAS rules that apply to terrestrial radio, TV broadcast and cable systems, the letter said. The FCC should require satellite radio to participate in national EAS just as it required VoIP services to comply with E-911 obligations, it said.
The $10 billion in projected revenue from the DTV spectrum auction should be used for emergency communications and subsidies to help consumers buy converter boxes for analog TVs that will become obsolete after the digital transition, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn Stevens (R-Alaska) told broadcasters at an MSTV conference Wed. He asked broadcasters to help persuade Congress and committee members that the money should be dedicated to projects he outlined, not diverted to other “very important projects that are necessary in the disaster areas.”
At the next FCC agenda meeting (Oct. 12), commissioners may decide on SHVERA, defining a “significantly viewed audience,” FCC sources said. The other media item will be action on a rulemaking on how the Emergency Alert System applies in a DTV environment, sources said. Work related to the Gulf Coast hurricane recovery may delay the meeting (CD Sept 30 p10).
The FCC extended an emergency alert system (EAS) compliance deadline for small cable systems from Oct. 1 to March 1. Firms affected by the order include Galaxy Cable and Northland Communications.
Telcos and wireless providers said Fri. they were working to ensure viable communications if Hurricane Rita knocked out coastal Tex. operations centers. Verizon and SBC said they were collaborating with federal emergency management and had activated emergency operations centers. They had technicians ready to make repairs and had reinforced switching center offices with sandbags, plywood and other materials. Officials also were working closely with state and local agencies to coordinate emergency communications.
PHILADELPHIA -- Local radio broadcasters shouldn’t worry about competition from satellite radio, FCC Comrs. Adelstein and Abernathy said at the NAB Radio Show here. “There is a place for satellite radio, but I don’t think they will ever be able to replicate what local broadcasters do,” Abernathy said. “I think we have the right rules in place.”
The FCC should have more authority to handle coordination of emergency communications during disasters, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Thurs. at a hearing. One key example would be to give the Commission power over credentialing employees to enter disaster areas -- a role now largely performed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Stevens said. “We want to have a plan in place to be able to get in touch with people,” Stevens said. FCC Chmn. Martin said the additional authority Stevens envisioned would be “good,” but said the Commission would still work with FEMA “since they are the ones on the ground.”
The FCC should require broadcasters to provide emergency announcements in multiple languages in markets that include large numbers of people whose main language isn’t English, the Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC) told the Commission in a petition. MMTC asked the FCC, in its emergency alert system rulemaking, to require vital information be made available to non-English people. After Hurricane Katrina and as Hurricane Rita nears Florida, this material should be available now, said MMTC Exec. Dir. David Honig.