FEMA Gets FCC OK for Wireless Alert Tests

The FCC will let the Federal Emergency Management Agency do the first nationwide test of wireless emergency alerts to wireless devices using the presidential level code on Sept. 20, with Oct. 3 a back-up date. FEMA requested a waiver (see 1807110033) so carriers would be able to participate in the test, to start at 2:18 p.m. EDT and be transmitted throughout the U.S. and its territories. The test “presents a unique circumstance that justifies a waiver of the Commission’s rules,” the Public Safety Bureau said. “We agree with FEMA, as noted in its letter, that it is important to ‘determine if carrier WEA configuration, systems, and networks can and will process a Presidential WEA delivering the message via all WEA enabled cell sites with minimal latency.’”