CTIA–The Wireless Association Statement on FCC and FEMA Announcement on Wireless Emergency Alerts

WASHINGTON -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Today, CTIA-The Wireless Association® President and CEO Steve Largent issued the following statement in response to the announcement made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on the development and delivery of wireless emergency alerts under the Warning Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act:

"On behalf of CTIA and our members, I would like to thank FCC Chairman Genachowski, the Commissioners, and FEMA Administrator Fugate for their agencies’ hard work and collaboration with the wireless industry to make wireless emergency alerts a reality. We also appreciate those members of Congress who sponsored and supported the WARN Act, which provided the framework for advancing this important cause.

“This announcement is a perfect illustration of a successful public-private partnership. From the beginning, CTIA and its member company CEOs supported the development and delivery of wireless emergency alerts to our nation’s wireless subscribers. The wireless industry, along with other interested stakeholders and government agencies, has been working feverishly in the WARN Act Advisory Committee and afterwards in the standards development process. We believe this service ultimately will protect America and save lives.

“With today’s announcement, wireless carriers and suppliers will seize this opportunity to work on finishing the development, testing, and deployment of the alerting system to benefit American consumers. We believe that the industry can significantly beat the timeline set by the FCC and we are committed to doing just that. The industry is devoting the resources to roll out wireless emergency alerts as quickly as possible.

“We are thankful for the efforts to date of the FCC, the DHS Science & Technology Directorate, and FEMA, and we look forward to continuing to work with FEMA in its role as the Federal Alert Aggregator and Administrator."

CTIA is the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, representing carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet providers.
www.ctia.org