CRTC says wireless companies must be able to send emergency alerts

Canada’s telecom regulator says all wireless service providers must be able to send emergency alerts to customers’ cellphones, and has set a deadline for it to happen.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ordered that by April, 6, 2018, everyone on an LTE network must be able to receive the same public alerts now broadcast on radio and TV.

The types of events for alerts include natural disasters like fires or floods, or Amber Alerts about abducted children.

“We know that more and more Canadians rely mostly on their cellphones. You carry your cellphone, not necessarily your TV or even your radio,” CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao said in an interview.

In Alberta, many cellphone customers in Fort McMurray received alerts from the province’s emergency management agency when the city was evacuated due to the massive wildfire in 2015.

But the wireless alerts weren’t mandatory — customers either downloaded an app on their phones, or registered with the provincial agency to receive emergency texts.

Valladao said the mandatory alerts will have a special tone and vibration so that people will know it’s not just an ordinary email or text. A banner, in English and French, will appear on the screen stating that there is an alert and that details of the alert will follow.

Messages will only be sent to your phone if you are in the affected area. And, Valladao said, the system will work if you are roaming. That means if you live in Toronto and are spending you holiday at a cottage in Alberta where a tornado warning has just been issued, the message will reach your phone.

A date for the launch of the service will be announced once the wireless industry has met all the necessary standards, the CRTC says.

The commission’s decision follows a consultation that began with the wireless indus-