WASHINGTON—Two proponents of cell broadcast technology said a Senate-passed bill to modernize the nation’s emergency alert system could further delay widespread deployment of wireless warnings to the nation’s 219 million mobile phone subscribers.
The Warnings, Alerts and Response Network Act, sponsored by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and approved last week as a rider to port-security legislation, authorizes $106 million to develop technical protocols for wireless and other new emergency warning distribution channels during the next year or so.
“The nation’s technological infrastructure for cell broadcast is already in place,” said Paul Klein, chief operating officer of CellCast Technologies, a Houston-based firm that markets cell broadcast EAS gear. “No new development is necessary for immediate activation.”
Klein noted that other countries are using cell broadcast technology. “Congress’ reluctance to consider immediate and proven technology delays America’s urgent need to overhaul our half-century old public warning program,” said Klein.
The mobile phone industry supports short message service as a near-term EAS solution and favors studying future technologies for delivering next-generation wireless emergency alerts.
“We are buoyed by the Senate’s recognition that an improved Emergency Broadcast System is needed for our nation and that a critical tool rests-literally-in our hands today. The ubiquity of cell phones provides the opportunity to dramatically enhance public safety. However, we must caution Congress and the administration that an extensive, multi-year ‘study’ is not needed and is a barrier to deploying an enhanced warning system in a timely manner,” said John Richter, honorary secretary of the Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Association-United States. “Countries in Asia and Europe are now using the ‘control channels’ on existing phones to create improved warning systems that will not overload networks and provide highly localized alerts. A Wisconsin cell phone carrier will even deploy the same type of system in the very near future—a development that is being closely monitored by the Department of Homeland Security. We strongly urge the federal government not to reinvent a wheel, but look to existing, available, and proven technologies to improve public safety.”
Einstein PCS plans to launch cell broadcast EAS in two weeks in Appleton, Wis.
