FCC approves guidelines for text alert system: Voluntary system lacks federal coordinator

The Federal Communications Commission approved technical guidelines for a voluntary mobile-phone emergency alert system, but the new public warning regime still lacks a federal coordinator.
Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. initially indicated they plan to participate in the program, whose technical requirements are based on recommendations of a federal advisory committee. The panel was created by legislation signed into law by President Bush in 2006. Other major carriers also are expected to offer subscribers emergency text messages.
The FCC said wireless carriers that opt in must comply with rules within 10 months from the date that a federal agency has been publicly designated to collect and transmit the alerts to the wireless carriers. That component – a critical one to supplementing an existing, Cold War-era emergency warning system based on television, radio and cable TV technologies – was thrown into question after the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this year urged the FCC to delay key decisions in the rulemaking because of a legal glitch.
FEMA, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, wrote the FCC in February that a 2006 presidential executive order gives it delegated authority over the emergency alert system involving presidential activations, but that it lacks authority during non-emergency periods to be involved with critical components of the commercial mobile alert system, including aggregator and gateway functions as well the trust model, when warnings are issued by non-federal agencies.
“By adopting technical requirements for the wireless alerting system today, we are enabling wireless providers that choose to participate in this system to begin designing their networks to deliver mobile alerts,” said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. “It would have been better, of course, if we had a federal entity in place now to take on the role of alert aggregator and gateway. We are hopeful that we have initiated the dialogue that will allow an appropriate federal entity to assume that central role in an expeditious manner.”
Michael Copps, one of two Democrats on the GOP-led FCC, was more blunt.
“The unwillingness of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fulfill this role is especially disheartening because FEMA representatives were intimately involved in developing the idea of a unified federal gateway/aggregator,” said Copps. “In fact, not until long after the die was cast, did FEMA suggest that it would be unable for statutory and other reasons to perform this key function. Specifically, it was less than two months ago – after the advisory committee had made its recommendation and after FEMA’s representative had voted in favor of the unified federal gateway/aggregator scheme – before FEMA raised any objection to assuming this responsibility.”
Copps continued: “So now we are left without a firm candidate for a position that is essential to getting this system off the ground. In light of FEMA’s recent and unexpected interpretation of its statutory authority, the commission’s only remaining option is to work with its fellow agencies and the Congress to find a federal entity that can fulfill this function.”
The FCC, which will allow each participating mobile-phone operators to choose its own technical solution for deploying emergency warnings to customers, made special provisions for disabled individuals.