OTTAWA – The CRTC is demanding that the country’s wireless providers and the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination (NAAD) system administrator Pelmorex explain “the issues” around last week’s rocky test of the emergency alert system.
“As reported in the media, the visible tests issued during the 2018 EPW (Emergency Preparedness Week) did not achieve full success, and in some instances, the test alerts were not distributed at all on LTE networks of the Wireless Service Providers”, reads the two letters, both dated May 17.
Both the letter to the wireless providers and Pelmorex's letter, which was addressed to regulatory and strategic SVP Paul Temple, asked for responses to the following questions:
- What actions did you take (such as software updates, text messages, etc.) prior to the dissemination of the wireless public test alerts that were visible to end-users during the 2018 EPW?
- What issues did you encounter during the 2018 EPW? Did any of these issues impede your ability or role in ensuring that the tests achieved full success?
- What issues are in your ability or power to address? What actions did you take to resolve these issues and in what timeframes?
- Are there any outstanding issues which are in your ability or power to address that remain unresolved? If so, what are they, and what actions are you taking to resolve them, and in what timeframes?
The answers should provide detailed breakdowns by province, and may be added to the record of a future public proceeding inquiring into the matter, the letters continue. Responses are due no later than May 29 “in light of the significant importance of this issue".
“Once the issues with the wireless public alerting tests have been identified, we, along with our partners, will take appropriate steps to address the situation”, the CRTC added via Twitter on Thursday.
