On May 1, 2018, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (“Bureau”) granted a limited waiver of the Commission’s Wireless Emergency Alert (“WEA”) rules to allow Participating Commercial Mobile Service (“CMS”) Providers to participate in a test coordinated by the Vail Public Safety Communications Center in Colorado (“VPSCC”). This test was conducted at 12:30 PM (MT) on May 2, 2018, and was broadcast only to mobile devices in the Town of Vail city limits.
The Bureau found good cause to waive the Commission’s rules, conditioning the waiver on VSPCC’s full implementation of its public outreach plan outlined in its letter of request. The limited waiver was also based on the following representations: 1) that the test was necessary to ensure that WEA will work during an emergency within the VPSCC area; 2) VPSCC will coordinate information about the test with participating CMS and EAS participants, first responders, and 911 answering points to ensure they are aware the WEA messages is a test; 3) pre-test publicity efforts will be shared with Public Information Officers in all affected jurisdictions; and 4) use of “test” wording is used throughout.
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