More Accurate Wireless Alerts a Complex Undertaking, CTIA Tells FCC

"Incorporating device-based solutions to enhance [Wireless Emergency Alerts] geo-targeting represents a fundamental shift in the design and use of WEA -- from a network-based approach that disseminates emergency information across a wide area with minimal network impact, to device-based technologies that confine receipt of the alerts to a more focused geographic area that will likely have network impacts,” CTIA said it told the FCC Public Safety Bureau: This “fundamental” change will require new or modified wireless networks “and device standards and solutions, as well as new or modified technologies and practices for alert originators.” CTIA in docket 15-91 urged an “aggressive, yet achievable, timeline to implement enhanced geo-targeting.” CTIA said some member companies, APCO representatives, emergency managers from New York City and Harris County, Texas, and officials from the National Weather Service attended. APCO said there's no consensus on “timing of improvements and how they should be implemented.” APCO said the FCC should establish “straightforward minimum requirements” for geotargeting effective by May 1, 2019. It suggested a requirement that alerts not extend beyond 1/10 mile of a specified area’s boundary. “APCO agreed with concern over proposals to improve geo-targeting by sacrificing characters in the WEA message to specify the target area,” the group said. “APCO would prefer that methods to improve geo-targeting not entail a trade-off with other improvements to WEA.” The New York City Emergency Management Department said “existing level of geo-targeting is not sufficient as clearly demonstrated by the City’s use of WEA following the Chelsea Bombing in 2016.” The department "continues to strongly support these enhancements and encourages the Commission to adopt an implementation timeline consistent with other WEA improvements that are expected to come online in 2019.”