OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Calling it “critical” that Canadians receive emergency alert messages on their mobile devices, the CRTC said Tuesday that an industry working group is ready to begin testing new standards that will assist in making mobile public alerting a reality.
Developed by the Network Working Group under the CRTC’s Interconnection Steering Committee, the new specifications will apply to mobile devices, as well as the interface between the national public alerting system and LTE wireless networks. Mobile devices that support the specification will be able to receive and display emergency alert messages in both English and French.
The Commission added that the wireless industry and emergency management community will test the technology in the coming months, and that a public pilot project is planned for 2016. The announcement did not reference the recent application made by Bruce Power recommending location-based SMS (text messaging) alerts that do not rely on LTE networks.
“The experience in other jurisdictions has shown that mobile alerts are an efficient way to alert citizens in an emergency situation and even save lives”, said CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, in a statement. “We are encouraged by the progress made to date, and urge all stakeholders to move as quickly as possible to make wireless public alerting a reality. Canadians carry their mobile devices with them everywhere and should have access to life-saving information as soon as it is available.”
Canada’s new emergency alert system, known as Alert Ready, officially launched in March, allowing the majority of Canadians to receive emergency alert messages through their radio and television services. Campus, community-based and Aboriginal broadcasters have until March 31, 2016 to rollout the system.
“Canadians have told us that emergency alerts on television and radio services are helpful, but that they would be more effective on mobile devices”, added CRTC vice-chair of telecommunications Peter Menzies. “The development of standards is an important step in ensuring that Canadians receive emergency alerts wherever they happen to be. More work needs to be done to ensure the standards will work in the real world, and we will continue to monitor this initiative.”
