The FCC has released an order granting temporary and conditional relief in response to a petition filed by the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) seeking a partial waiver of Section 10.220 of the Commission’s rules requiring Commercial Mobile Service Providers participating in the Commission’s Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system to provide the FCC and affected subscribers 60-days’ notice of a carrier’s intent to withdraw its election from participating in WEA. In its petition seeking a waiver of the opt-out notice period, or in the alternative, an extension of current WEA deadlines, CCA argued that small and rural carriers are currently having problems meeting November 1, 2017 deadlines applicable to all Commercial Mobile Service Providers who support WEA to have embedded references and geo-location features up and running for their customers. Specifically, the FCC’s Order temporarily waived the 60-day notice requirement “until the Commission or the [Public Safety and Homeland Security] Bureau acts on the merits of the August 31 CCA Petition.” However, a Participating CMS Provider that is also a member of CCA cannot opt-out of WEA while the Commission reviews the substance of the CCA petition in greater detail. Only CCA members are covered by this conditional waiver, but the Commission anticipates “that a ruling on the merits of the August 31 CCA Petition will be made expeditiously” and that relief might encompass all non-nationwide CMS Providers.
