The FCC has released a Public Notice announcing that certain Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) improvements managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and scheduled to be complete by June 10, 2019 will not be ready on-time. These improvements were previously announced in the April WEA Advisory. Among other things, the April WEA Advisory called for improvements to the State/Local WEA Test category. Accordingly, until such time that IPAWS will support and deploy the State/Local WEA Test option, alert originators may not conduct an end-to-end WEA test to the public without first obtaining a waiver of the Commission’s rules. The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will issue a separate public notice announcing when IPAWS is available to fully support these WEA enhancements and providing further guidance on their use.
