The Commercial Mobile Alert System is a voluntary system established pursuant to the Warning, Alert and Response Network Act to enable commercial wireless carriers to transmit emergency alerts generated by government officials to their subscribers.
On December 7, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) jointly announced the adoption of the technical design specifications for the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) that will allow participating wireless carriers to transmit emergency alerts to their subscribers.
The CMAS is a voluntary system established pursuant to the Warning, Alert and Response Network Act (WARN Act) to enable commercial wireless carriers to transmit emergency alerts generated by federal, state and local government officials to their subscribers. The timeline under which participating wireless carriers are required to implement the CMAS is triggered by the FCC's and FEMA's joint announcement that the Government Interface Design specifications are available. FEMA is the Federal Alert Aggregator/Gateway designated to receive, authenticate and format alerts received by federal, state, tribal and local government agencies, and then transmit them over a secure interface to gateways administered by participating wireless providers. As a result of this announcement, the 10-month period during which wireless carriers volunteering to participate in the CMAS must begin development and testing of the CMAS will end on October 7, 2010. At the end of the 10-month period, wireless carriers participating in the CMAS must begin an 18-month implementation and deployment period before the CMAS can be made available to the public. The 18-month implementation and deployment period will begin immediately after the development and testing period and will end no later than April 7, 2012. It is possible that wireless carriers may complete the development and testing period and initiate the CMAS before the April 7, 2012, deadline.
Wireless carriers that have elected not to transmit wireless alerts must begin providing notice to new and existing subscribers of their decision no later than 60 days following an announcement by the FCC that the Federal Alert Aggregator/Gateway system is operational and capable of delivering emergency alerts to participating wireless carriers. The FCC will likely issue such an announcement on or about April 7, 2012, the end of the 28-month deployment period. However, wireless carriers that do not participate in the CMAS should be prepared to begin providing notice at an earlier date in the event that participating wireless carriers initiate CMAS prior to the April 7, 2012, deadline.
If a wireless carrier elects at a later date to participate in the CMAS, it must file a notice with the FCC 30 days prior to offering this service.
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