FCC Public Safety Bureau Tweaks Wireless Alerting Waiver for Competitive Carriers

The FCC Public Safety Bureau tweaked a waiver on wireless emergency alert rules it approved for competitive carriers just before the Labor Day weekend (see 1709050053). The earlier waiver, responding to a petition by the Competitive Carriers Association, provided “temporary and conditional relief” for CCA, waiving a requirement that carriers decide by Sept. 1 whether to elect to withdraw from the voluntary wireless emergency alert program. A Friday-evening notice was “temporarily waiving the 60-day notice requirement” until 30 days after the FCC acts on the merits of an earlier CCA petition seeking (see 1708160063) a delay of new alerting requirements by at least a year. The bureau cites problems posed by hurricanes Irma and Harvey. “This situation is being exacerbated by the fact that many carriers’ limited resources are being further constrained at this time by the response to multiple severe weather events,” the order said. “This temporary waiver will permit these carriers both to focus their limited resources on responding to recent storms and figure out whether they will be able to comply with requirements that are scheduled to take effect at the beginning of November.”