FCC adopts emergency alert test rules

The Federal Communications Commission approved testing guidelines for wireless providers that decide to transmit emergency alerts to subscribers as part of a government effort to modernize a Cold Era, mostly broadcast-based public warning system. The issue came to the fore following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists, and received renewed interest after Hurricane Katrina. The FCC’s job is not finished, however. The agency must establish by Aug. 9 a process for wireless providers to elect whether to transmit emergency alerts to subscribers. Mobile-phone carriers must inform the commission in early September whether they plan to participate in the program. While the 2006 Warning Alert and Response Network Act makes the program voluntary, major cellphone operators initially signaled they’re on board.
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