Public Safety Bureau Grants Waivers to Wireless Companies for WEA Alert Obligations

The FCC Public Safety Bureau granted waivers to wireless companies for the period of time between April 7, 2012, and the date that the petitioners were able to provide wireless emergency alert (WEA) messages. The petitions were jointly filed by Northeast Communications, Thumb Cellular and other wireless entities, the bureau said in an order. Commercial mobile service providers were to have had the capability to receive and transmit WEA alerts to their subscribers consistent with their elections by that date, it said. Petitioners’ failure to meet the deadline “resulted largely from circumstances beyond their control,” the bureau said. Some parties experienced delays with their third-party providers, and in receiving an executed memorandum of agreement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it said.