FCC Chairman Ajit Pai pressured the wireless industry to step up work on geotargeting for wireless emergency alerts, in letters sent Thursday. Commissioners approved an order 5-0 in 2018 (see 1801300027) imposing a Nov. 30, 2019, deadline for carriers to more accurately “geo-target” wireless emergency alerts. Pai asked ATIS to task its Wireless Technologies Systems Committee “with producing best practices that refine … discretionary parameters to further improve enhanced WEA geo-targeting.” The best practices should include the recommended frequency for retransmitting WEAs, the recommended number of location checks devices should perform when determining whether to display an alert, the recommended time devices should wait to get a fix on their location during each check and “the recommended processes to ensure that WEA-capable mobile devices display WEAs received during active voice or data sessions when the device is located within the targeted geographic area,” Pai said. He asked for a document by Q2. A letter to CTIA asked for annual updates, beginning in July, on industry’s “estimates of current and projected market penetration rates of mobile devices that support enhanced WEA geo-targeting." Pai noted CTIA recently informed commission staff that some 18% of active smartphones now support enhanced WEA geotargeting. Pai sought a commitment by Oct. 1. A letter to Qualcomm noted “the availability of enhanced WEA geo-targeting is dependent upon the capabilities of the mobile device’s chipset, many of which are produced by Qualcomm.” Pai asked for a commitment by Oct. 1 that “all Qualcomm-enabled 5G devices currently sold, and to be sold, in the United States will support enhanced WEA geo-targeting -- as Qualcomm has communicated previously to FCC staff.” Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes blogged that geotargeting is an important enhancement to WEAs, launched in 2012. “We expect the improvement to become more widely available over time, as consumers purchase new smartphones,” she said.
With the launch of FirstNet, and federal focus on interoperable communications, federal-local government relationships have improved markedly over the past 10 years, experts said Thursday on the final day of IWCE's virtual conference. Others said gaps remain.
A trio of House Communications Subcommittee Democratic members from California -- Vice Chair Doris Matsui, Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney -- is seeking an FCC briefing “as soon as possible” on the communications-related impacts of recent wildfires and rolling blackouts in that state. The wireless industry amid the wildfires has been seeking a rehearing on a California Public Utilities Commission order requiring 72-hour backup power in certain high-threat fire areas (see 2008200038). The communications impacts of the wildfires and blackouts are especially concerning because “these events are taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the three said in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Communications outages mean that people are unable to call 9-1-1, let their loved ones know that they are safe, or receive lifesaving alerts, which may include information about alternative wildfire evacuation routes or other information specific to evacuations during the pandemic.” The lawmakers “strongly urge and expect your agency, which is charged with overseeing our nation’s communications networks to promote public safety, to be taking all possible steps to monitor the situation and help ensure that Californians stay connected during this time.” They want the FCC briefing to include information on wildfire and blackout-related outages in California reported to the agency since Aug. 14 and commission actions to monitor the situation and work with the state government and telecom providers. The Democrats also want to know about situations in which wireless emergency alerts were used to issue warnings and provide information on wildfires and the extent to which the FCC is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and others to ensure the WEA system is used “appropriately to protect the public” during the wildfires. The FCC didn’t comment.
California earthquake detection and warnings will be baked into all Android phones, said Google and the California Office of Emergency Services Tuesday. The system uses alert data from the state’s earthquake early warning system, OES said. Each smartphone will act as a “mini seismometer” using accelerometers that can sense possible quakes, Google blogged. “If the phone detects something that it thinks may be an earthquake, it sends a signal to our earthquake detection server, along with a coarse location of where the shaking occurred. The server then combines information from many phones to figure out if an earthquake is happening.” Google expects to expand to other states and countries over the coming year, it said.
The FCC is acting in response to a GAO report on wireless emergency alerts and other alerting issues, Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., posted Friday in docket 20-14. “I share GAO's view on the importance of gathering and assessing specific performance information about the effectiveness of these systems' enhanced capabilities -- many of which have only recently become available,” Pai said: “The Commission has a pending rulemaking proceeding that specifically seeks comment on whether the Commission should adopt performance metrics, such as benchmarks regarding the extent to which these alerts have been received.” The Public Safety Bureau had been working with local jurisdictions to do end-to-end WEA tests of geotargeting effectiveness, but that was suspended due to COVID-19, Pai said. Once the agency has a better understanding of system performance, it will be able to make “better-informed” decisions on improving it, future tests, and resolving the pending rulemaking on WEA performance metrics, Pai said.
Expansion of the footprint for ATSC 3.0, launched in South Korea in 2017, will continue “in earnest” in the near future, Parks Associates reported, noting launches on Las Vegas stations in May (see 2005260061) and elsewhere. It cited benefits including 4K HDR video support, immersive audio via Dolby Atmos and DTS-X, on-demand video, access to enriched interactive content and an updated emergency alert system. A required tuner could be a boon for smart TV makers such as Samsung, LG and Sony, which are developing 3.0-enabled sets. Data and analytics will drive personalization and search capabilities, and push notifications will play a prominent role beyond just operating system updates, it said: Smart TV’s role will evolve through COVID-19 to remain “front and center” in the U.S. connected home. Technology advances, proliferation of video apps and improved interoperability with other devices have pushed the smart TV to a more central residential role, Parks said. In Q1, 30% of TV owners said their most-used TV has a voice-enabled remote control or voice assistant -- or can be controlled by a smart speaker -- vs. 10% in the year-ago quarter.
The House Commerce Committee approved 10 telecom bills Wednesday, including the Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecom Act (HR-6624), as expected (see 2007140062). Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., emphasized that the measures up for votes Wednesday were "all consensus bills, which are truly bipartisan, and the details of which have been worked out with myself and" ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore. The committee is known to have excluded (see 2007130054) some high-profile bills the House Communications Subcommittee advanced in March that had drawn Republican criticism, including the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) and Reinforcing and Evaluating Service Integrity, Local Infrastructure and Emergency Notification for Today’s (Resilient) Networks Act (HR-5926).
The House Commerce Committee will vote on the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act (HR-451) and National Suicide Hotline Designation Act (HR-4194) during a planned Wednesday markup, as expected (see 2007130054). The markup will begin at 11 a.m. EDT via a Cisco WebEx video conference, Commerce said. The committee said it will also vote on eight other communications bills, including the Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecom Act. HR-6624 aims to fund creation of an NTIA-managed open radio access network R&D fund (see 2001140067). The Senate version of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (S-4049) includes modified USA Telecom Act language that would repurpose $75 million from the FCC DTV and public safety fund for R&D (see 2007020053). Also on the docket: House Resolution 549, the Suicide Prevention Lifeline Improvement Act (HR-4564), Telemental Health Expansion Act (HR-5201), Measuring the Economics Driving Investments and Access for Diversity Act (HR-5567), Emergency Reporting Act (HR-5918), Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement Act (HR-6096) and Spectrum IT Modernization Act (HR-7310). HR-7310 and Senate version S-3717 would require NTIA to develop a plan for modernizing its IT systems. It would make NTIA develop “a time-based automated mechanism” to “share Federal spectrum between covered agencies” (see 2005140057). Language from HR-7310/S-3717 is included in S-4049 and the House’s FY21 NDAA (HR-6395).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau waived its annual requirement that emergency alert system participants file identifying information in the emergency test reporting system, after the Federal Emergency Management Agency canceled the 2020 nationwide EAS test (see 2006240067), said a public notice Wednesday. “In consideration of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) national emergency and FEMA’s decision not to conduct a nationwide test of the EAS in 2020,” there's good cause to waive the requirement, the PN said.
New York's Emergency Management Department activated the wireless emergency alert system several times to inform the public of mandatory curfews imposed in response to recent widespread protests, the city told the FCC. Later surveys found problems, the city said Monday in docket 15-91: “The majority of respondents received the messages successfully and within minutes of message issuance. However, consistent with prior surveys, a subset of respondents reported not receiving the message at all and/or receiving it significantly delayed without an identifiable cause.” The city said the pandemic, protests and the “evolving threat environment continue to underscore the need for our nation’s public alerting systems to be improved.”