New York City first to get cellular emergency alerts

Building on plans first announced in 2006, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, wireless operators and others formally announced plans for a free service that delivers emergency alerts to people in a targeted geographic area.
Federal executives and representatives from the nation’s top for wireless operators announced the initiative at the World Trade Center this morning. PLAN – the Personal Localized Alerting Network will first be available in New York City by the end of the year. The federal government is requiring wireless operators to be able to deliver emergency alerts by April 2012, or tell end users their service doesn’t have such a feature. One issue yet to be determined is how many of the nation’s wireless handsets are CMAS-enabled.
CMAS is a national program established by the FCC in 2006. The technology is similar to current technology that sends emergency alerts to cable television or to wired phones, but adds the advantage of being able to reach any cell phone within a defined geographic area. Text-based CMAS alerts feature a dedicated vibration cadence and audio attention signals for wireless customers with hearing or vision disabilities. The first CMAS pilot program was announced last fall in a partnership with the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services and Sprint Nextel Corp.
PLAN is different than other voice and texting services because it will not get stalled in the network, authorities said. Government officials will send the messages and participating operators can then send on the messages to enabled devices. Companies like
Alcatel-Lucent and Interop Technologies Inc. have introduced products that can use the technology to deliver advertising messages or host a CMAS solution for smaller operators that may not want the expense of deploying their own solutions.
“In both the public and private sectors, I’ve always believed in the need to harness technology in new ways, including ways that its designers hadn’t anticipated. The City’s opt-in Notify NYC system is a great example of that: it alerts people to dangers and delays via email and mobile devices, and it has become a national model of emergency communication,” said New York City Michael Bloomberg. “But given the kinds of threats made against New York City at the World Trade Center, Times Square, and other places popular with visitors and tourists, we’ll be even safer when authorities can broadcast warnings to everyone in a geographic area regardless of where they came from or bought their phone,” Mayor Bloomberg continued. “I want to congratulate FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate for this quantum leap forward in using technology to help keep people safe.”
When PLAN fully launched, customers in an area affected by an emergency who have a PLAN-capable mobile devices can receive 90-characters or less messages, including alerts issued by the president, alerts involving imminent threats to safety and Amber Alerts. People may not opt out of presidential alerts.
“CTIA and its member company CEOs have long supported the development and delivery of wireless emergency alerts to our nation’s subscribers and have committed substantial resources to the development, testing and deployment process. Today’s announcement shows the positive achievements that can occur when government partners with industry, rather than seeking to impose regulatory mandates,” said CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent.
FEMA decided in 2008 it should be the agency to manage the initiative, setting off a minor scuttlebutt with the FCC at the time.