WASHINGTON-The White House is expected shortly to release a belated report advocating the integration of wireless technologies into the nation’s Emergency Alert System, a policy that industry, federal regulators and Congress have not aggressively pushed despite the fact that millions of mobile phones today can provide such warnings in advance of tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters.
The report on natural disaster information systems-overseen by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy since 1997-will be released in the next four to six weeks and will emphasize wireless and other technologies for emergency warnings, according to administration and other sources who have seen the report.
For the most part, the report was completed last April, but was delayed due to OSTP staff changes and perhaps, according to some sources, political pressures.
Separately, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration is considering holding a conference on the Emergency Alert System next month.
Despite the emphasis given to the issue by the White House, the idea of marrying the nation’s 90 million mobile phones and advanced weather forecasting data in this age of major climate changes has not advanced far in industry, Congress or at the Federal Communications Commission.
Wireline telephone carriers are beginning to deploy “reverse 911” emergency warning systems around the country. Late last week, SCC Communications Corp. and U S West Inc. announced they will provide Adams County, Colo., with an advanced emergency warning system that enables public-safety agencies to speedily deliver vital information about life-threatening crises to landline telephones.
In contrast, the wireless industry, which says it needs to be further deregulated to compete with landline telephone firms, is not close to offering similar life-saving services to subscribers.
“For over seven years, my organization has tried to work with the cellular industry to implement cellular EAS on a voluntary, revenue-neutral basis. Unfortunately, both the federal government and the wireless industry have chosen a policy of disregard, rather than seeking a solution,” said Douglas Weiser, head of the Cellular Emergency Alert Services Association and head of a small products-development company in St. Louis.
In 1994, Weiser asked the FCC to incorporate mobile phone and other wireless carriers in the then-new Emergency Alert System, or EAS, on a voluntary basis. The FCC in September 1997 rejected Weiser’s petition, saying the issue was outside the scope of the EAS regulatory proceeding and beyond the agency’s statutory mandate.
TV and radio requirements of the EAS, formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System, go back to the 1950s. Cable TV requirements were added in 1992.
Congress has been silent on wireless EAS.
The FCC declined to comment beyond what it has stated in previous EAS rulings.
In March, Weiser wrote to Vice President Gore and asked for his support on expanding the EAS to new technologies. Gore, who has been closely involved in developing a global disaster information network, did not reply to Weiser.
Having failed to get the FCC and the industry to voluntarily move forward, Weiser in February 1999 reached out to John Stanton, chairman and chief executive officer of VoiceStream Wireless Corp., the largest operator of Global System for Mobile communications systems in the United States and an influential member of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
Weiser said GSM networks and handsets always have had the capability to provide emergency broadcast alerts to the nation’s 6 million GSM mobile phone subscribers. Overall, GSM systems operate in 4,600 cities and 47 states.
Time Division Multiple Access equipment, and, to a greater extent, Code Division Multiple Access network and phone equipment, according to Weiser, need more engineering to be able to deliver emergency alerts to mobile phone subscribers.
Weiser said Stanton never replied to his letter or other entreaties to voluntarily provide emergency messages over GSM networks, which have a strong presence in pockets of the country (the plains states and in the Southeast) particularly prone to tornadoes and other violent weather. Stanton did not respond to a request for comment.
Weiser speculated that GSM mobile phone operators may be under competitive pressure from other mobile phone carriers not to provide emergency alert messaging until the technology is available to all wireless service providers.
The wireless industry defends its failure to promote mobile phone emergency alerts, saying marketplace alternatives will fill the void.
“The GSM community obviously isn’t opposed to any idea that’s going to help improve public safety or minimize any tragic loss of lives from natural disasters,” said Mike Houghton, spokesman for the North American GSM Alliance.
Houghton said Weiser’s proposal should go through the normal standards-setting process and that other emergency alert alternatives are available on the market.
Last December, the Telecommunications Industry Association published a standard for transmitting emergency alert messages on cellular and personal communications services systems.
CTIA submitted a wireless emergency alert standard to TIA in late May 1998, a month after ABC’s PrimeTime Live aired a segment in which Weiser took CTIA to task for not linking wireless phones to the existing emergency broadcast system.
“Citizens in tornado areas are probably better served by listening to live broadcasts on radio and television,” said Houghton. “The highest and best uses of GSM’s and other wireless services relate to calling 911 and public-safety officials during and after emergency situations.”
“When we look at this, it’s not the silver bullet that it’s made out to be,” Houghton added.
CTIA spokesman Jeffrey Nelson echoed Houghton’s remarks.
“There are many services free for wireless subscribers that provide weather alerts,” said Nelson. He predicted the public-safety issue will be sorted out in the competitive marketplace.
