Major Carriers Say They May Not Meet Nov. 30 Deadline for More-Targeted Alerts
Carriers warned the FCC they will have difficulty meeting a Nov. 30 deadline for more-targeted wireless emergency alerts. Commissioners approved 5-0 an order in January 2018 requiring participating wireless providers to deliver alerts to the target area specified by the alert originator with no more than a one-tenth of a mile overshoot (see 1801300027). In June, the Public Safety Bureau asked (see 1906050072) the five largest U.S. wireless carriers about their plans to meet the geotargeting deadline. Responses were posted Monday in docket 15-91. The carriers noted ATIS didn’t publish a standard for geotargeting until May 6.
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“We are working hard to meet the standard by the deadline, and are cautiously optimistic that network-level upgrades in our control can be completed” by that date, Verizon said. “We intend to do everything within our control to meet that date.” But Verizon said handsets mostly won’t be ready for testing until later this year. “Consumers’ ability to benefit from service providers’ new alert delivery capabilities will depend on the availability of capable handsets,” it said. Equipment makers should be able to start delivering devices about three months after Verizon completes tests, the company said.
AT&T promised only “substantial progress” by the deadline. WEA isn't "a single node or component in the wireless network, but instead is a complex set of functionalities embedded in many inter-related nodes within the various commercial wireless networks, interworked with a diverse base of subscriber handsets,” AT&T said: Installing a solution “involves the integration of no fewer than eleven separate project schedules, each with its own lab delivery date, lab exit date, first field application date, and generally availability date -- each of which must be coordinated toward a nationwide rollout.”
The time between standards developing and deployment is unusually short, T-Mobile said. It has been “closely working with network, chipset, handset, and test equipment vendors to expedite development, testing, and deployment of hardware and software necessary to support the new geo-targeting capability.” T-Mobile said it’s optimistic it can meet the deadline: “This optimism, however, is contingent upon the absence of any problems being identified between the date of this letter and November 30th -- there is little flexibility to account for correction.”
Sprint also expressed optimism. But providers are “but one piece of the overall wireless ecosystem necessary to adopt, implement and bring to market the geo-targeting alert capability,” it warned: “We have limited control over the inputs necessary for this service.” U.S. Cellular said it can’t commit to meeting the deadline. “This is not to say that we will be unable to meet the deadline; it is only to say that substantial uncertainties exist that make such a commitment not possible at this time,” it said.
The agency didn't comment.