The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has released a public notice seeking Participating Commercial Mobile Service Providers who are authorized by FEMA to send Wireless Emergency Alerts using the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) to participate in an upcoming targeted test of WEA. Specifically, the Bureau wants volunteer participating carriers to test the geographic targeting – or “geo-targeting” – capabilities of the WEA system. Enhanced geo-targeting becomes a requirement for all participating carriers on November 19, 2019. The Commission’s rules stipulate that on that date, participating carriers must deliver an Alert Message to a targeted area 100% of the time, and with no more than a 0.1 mile “overshoot”. The Bureau seeks one or more volunteers and it will select participating carriers based on criteria described in greater detail in the public notice. Participating carriers have until Thursday, July 11, 2019 to file comments about the proposed test or to express interest about participating in the WEA geo-locating tests.
