Pai Pledges Follow-up on WEA Geo-Targeting Problems

Chairman Ajit Pai cited an FCC-planned rulemaking on improving ability to geo-target wireless emergency alerts accurately, in a Friday letter responding to concerns Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both D-Calif., raised last month about WEA (see 1710180064). Feinstein and Harris pressed Pai to execute rules for WEAs that the commission approved more than a year ago. Commissioners voted 4-1 then to adopt revised rules, which increase maximum length of WEA messages from 90 to 360 characters for 4G LTE and future networks and require participating wireless providers support including embedded phone numbers and URLs in all WEA alerts (see 1710180064). The rulemaking (see 1711020054) “would adopt rules to further enhance the precision of geo-targeted WEAs,” Pai wrote Feinstein and Harris. He noted the senators’ concerns about technical difficulties with geo-targeting during the recent fatal wildfires in California, saying the FCC is worried Sonoma County decided not to activate the alerts because of “concerns that WEA could not be focused sufficiently to avoid creating road congestion.” He noted “extensive” use of WEAs during hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria