CCA Asks FCC to Extend Deadline for Complying With New Alerting Rules

The Competitive Carriers Association asked the FCC to extend the deadline on new requirements for wireless emergency alerts by at least a year. The FCC approved revised rules and sought comment on future changes in September (see 1609290060). The order increases the maximum length of WEA messages from 90 to 360 characters for 4G LTE and future networks and requires participating wireless providers to support inclusion of embedded phone numbers and URLs in all WEA alerts. CCA asked that the deadline be extended from Nov. 1 this year to May 1, 2019. As an alternative, the CCA said in a footnote to the petition in docket 15-91, it's seeking a 12-month extension. “Many of CCA’s members, especially those serving rural and remote areas, are still transitioning from 2G and 3G networks to newer technologies,” CCA said. “Applicable standards for new WEA requirements are still under development … and the record demonstrates that compliance with certain requirements cannot be achieved until these standards are defined and publicly available.”