[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 231 (Monday, December 4, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57158-57161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25673]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 10 and 11

[PS Docket No. 15-91; PS Docket No. 15-94; FCC 17-143]


Wireless Emergency Alerts; Emergency Alert System

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission 
(Commission) grants the petition filed by CTIA for reconsideration the 
Commission's recent decision to revise its Wireless Emergency Alert 
(WEA) rules and grants in part and denies in part the Competitive 
Carrier Association's (CCA) request for a waiver or extension of time. 
Specifically, the Commission extends the timeframe for compliance with 
the requirement in the WEA Report and Order that Participating CMS 
Providers provide ``clickable'' embedded references in WEA messages 
from 12 months to 30 months except for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint 
and U.S. Cellular. This document also clarifies that the requirement 
for ``clickable'' embedded references encompass phone numbers and other 
types of embedded references, and that our embedded reference 
requirement applies to new devices as well as existing devices capable 
of supporting this feature through a software upgrade. Finally, this 
document denies CCA's request for a waiver or an extension of time for 
compliance with the geo-targeting requirements.

DATES: Effective December 4, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gregory Cooke of the Public Safety and 
Homeland Security Bureau, Policy and Licensing Division, 
[email protected], (202) 418-2351.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order 
on Reconsideration in PS Docket No. 15-91, No. 15-94, FCC 17-143, 
released on November 1, 2017. The document is available for download at 
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-17-143A1.pdf. The 
complete text of this document is also available for inspection and 
copying during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Information 
Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 
20554. To request materials in accessible formats for people with 
disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), 
send an email to [email protected] or call the Consumer & Governmental 
Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).

Supplemental Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    1. This Supplemental Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 
(Supplemental FRFA) supplements the Final Regulatory Flexibility 
Analysis (FRFA) of the September 2016 WEA Report and Order, 81 FR 75710 
(WEA R&O) to reflect the actions taken in this Order on Reconsideration 
and conforms to the RFA.

Need for, and Objective of, the Order

    2. In the WEA R&O, we took advantage of the significant 
technological changes and improvements experienced by the mobile 
wireless industry since the passage of the Warning, Alert and Response 
Network (WARN) Act, and deployment of WEA to improve the utility of WEA 
as a life-saving tool. As pertinent to the Order on Reconsideration we 
adopt today, in the WEA R&O we adopted rules focused on improving WEA 
message content by narrowing the rules for the geo-targeting of alerts, 
requiring Participating Commercial Mobile Service (CMS) Providers to 
support embedded references (i.e., URLs and phone numbers) included in 
WEA Alert Messages. In doing so, we set a deadline for compliance with 
the embedded reference requirement of one year (12 months).
    3. In this Order on Reconsideration, we grant, to the extent 
described herein, CTIA's Petition for Reconsideration of the WEA R&O 
and CCA's Petition for Waiver, or in the Alternative, Extension of 
Time. In doing so, we deny CCA's request for a waiver or an extension 
of time for compliance with the WEA R&O's best approximates geo-
targeting standard, as compliance with the best approximate geo-
targeting is well within the capabilities of CCA's members; and we 
reconsider the deadline for compliance with the embedded reference 
requirement from one year (12 months) to 30 months for all

[[Page 57159]]

Participating CMS Providers except for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint 
and U.S. Cellular, because these CMS Providers have indicated their 
ability and intent to meet the November 1, 2017 deadline for embedded 
references adopted in the WEA R&O. The actions we take today allow us 
to continue to advance down the path outlined in the WEA R&O while 
supplying additional time for compliance to smaller entities (i.e., 
small and regional carriers) with respect to the embedded reference 
requirement adopted therein.

Summary of Significant Issues Raised by Public Comments in Response to 
the IRFA

    4. In light of reconsideration, waiver, and extension requests, the 
Commission considered the potential impact of the rules proposed in the 
IRFA on small entities and reduced the compliance burden in order to 
reduce the economic impact of the rules enacted herein on such 
entities.

Response to Comments by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 
Business Administration

    5. Pursuant to the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which amended 
the RFA, the Commission is required to respond to any comments filed by 
the Chief Counsel of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and to 
provide a detailed statement of any change made to the proposed rule(s) 
as a result of those comments.
    6. The Chief Counsel did not file any comments in response to the 
proposed rule(s) in this proceeding.

Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities To Which the 
Rules Would Apply

    7. The RFA directs agencies to provide a description of and, where 
feasible, an estimate of the number of small entities that may be 
affected by the proposed rules, if adopted. The RFA generally defines 
the term small entity'' as having the same meaning as the terms ``small 
business,'' ``small organization,'' and ``small governmental 
jurisdiction.'' In addition, the term ``small business'' has the same 
meaning as the term ``small business concern'' under the Small Business 
Act. A ``small business concern'' is one which: (1) Is independently 
owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of operation; and 
(3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the Small Business 
Administration (SBA).
    8. As noted above, a FRFA was incorporated into the WEA R&O. In 
that analysis, we described in detail the small entities that might be 
significantly affected by the rules adopted in the WEA R&O. Those 
entities may be found in a number of services including, e.g.: Wireless 
telecommunications carriers, broadband Personal Communications Service, 
narrowband Personal Communications Service, Wireless Communications 
Services, Advanced Wireless Services, lower and upper 700 MHz Band 
licenses, software publishers, and radio and television broadcasting 
and wireless communications equipment manufacturing. In this Order on 
Reconsideration, we hereby use the descriptions and estimates of the 
number of small entities from the previous FRFA in this proceeding.

Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance 
Requirements for Small Entities

    9. The data, information and document collection required by the 
WEA R&O as described in the previous FRFA in this proceeding is hereby 
used. The actions taken in this Order do not amend or otherwise revise 
those requirements, except to supply additional time for compliance 
with one of the requirements, i.e., embedded references in WEA 
messages.

Steps Taken To Minimize the Significant Economic Impact on Small 
Entities, and Significant Alternatives Considered

    10. The RFA requires an agency to describe any significant 
alternatives that it has considered in reaching its proposed approach, 
which may include the following four alternatives (among others): (1) 
The establishment of differing compliance or reporting requirements or 
timetables that take into account the resources available to small 
entities; (2) the clarification, consolidation, or simplification of 
compliance or reporting requirements under the rule for small entities; 
(3) the use of performance, rather than design, standards; and (4) and 
exemption from coverage of the rule, or any part thereof, for small 
entities.
    11. The analysis of the Commission's efforts to minimize the 
possible significant economic impact on small entities as described in 
the previous FRFA in this proceeding is hereby incorporated by 
reference. Additionally, in this Order, in response to concerns raised 
by small entities, i.e., small and regional carriers, the Commission is 
supplying additional time, until May 1, 2019, for all carriers (apart 
from the five) to comply with the embedded reference requirement.

Report to Congress

    12. The Commission will send a copy of this Order, including this 
Supplemental FRFA, in a report to be sent to Congress and the 
Government Accountability Office pursuant to the Small Business 
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. In addition, the 
Commission will send a copy of this Order, including the Supplemental 
FRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration. A copy of this Order and Supplemental FRFA (or 
summaries thereof) will also be published in the Federal Register.

Synopsis

    13. In this Order on Reconsideration, we reaffirm our existing 
schedule for geo-targeting alerts to best approximate the target area 
and reaffirm that the five largest mobile service providers must 
provide clickable embedded references by November 1, 2017, but we 
extend the timeline for smaller, regional wireless providers to come 
into compliance with that requirement. These actions ensure that 
smaller, regional wireless providers remain part of the Wireless 
Emergency Alerts (WEA) system while maximizing the deployment of more 
effective wireless emergency alerts to consumers.
    14. In September 2016, the Commission adopted the WEA Report and 
Order, 81 FR 75710 (WEA R&O), which eliminated the prohibition on the 
use of embedded references in non-Presidential Alerts and required 
Participating CMS Providers to support embedded references within one 
year of the rules' publication in the Federal Register. Among other 
issues, CTIA timely petitioned the Commission to reconsider, or, in the 
alternative, clarify this requirement.
    15. CTIA requests that the Commission defer mandating 
implementation of embedded references until after feasibility testing 
is completed (i.e., testing whether embedded references in WEA alerts 
would cause harmful network congestion) and the requirements for 
compliance are clarified (e.g., that the Commission is requiring 
embedded reference capability only for new devices).
    16. CTIA makes three arguments: mandating compliance before 
comprehensive feasibility testing may lead to substantial network 
congestion; testing, prior to mandating compliance, is necessary to 
determine the feasibility of supporting embedded references; and the 
compliance deadline has no sound basis in the record.
    17. On August 16, 2017, the CCA filed a Petition for Waiver, or in 
the

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Alternative, Extension of Time, requesting a waiver or extension of the 
compliance timeline for support for embedded references until May 1, 
2019, consistent with CTIA's request. CCA further requested a waiver or 
extension of time for compliance with the WEA R&O's geo-targeting 
requirement until May 1, 2019.

Discussion

Timeframe for Supporting Basic Geo-Targeting

    18. CCA requests that we waive or delay the November 1, 2017 
deadline for basic geo-targeting (known as best approximates geo-
targeting). We decline the request and reaffirm the current schedule 
for the deployment of basic geo-targeting for wireless emergency 
alerts.
    19. The basic geo-targeting standard is designed to be flexible and 
to take into consideration the specific capabilities of each 
Participating CMS Provider. In the WEA R&O, the Commission set forth 
the expectation that Participating CMS Providers will take reasonable 
efforts to leverage existing technology to its fullest extent and 
articulated potential techniques and benchmarks for basic geo-
targeting. As the Commission noted when it adopted the initial rules 
for WEA, the system is technologically neutral, and Participating CMS 
providers are in the best position to select and incorporate the 
technologies that will enable them to most effectively and efficiently 
deliver mobile alerts.
    20. Although CCA asserts that many of its members cannot comply 
with the standard because they are still transitioning from 2G and 3G 
to 4G technologies and because the standards applicable to best 
approximates'' are still in development, we reject CCA's contention 
that its ability to meet the basic geo-targeting standard is affected 
in any way by a particular technology such as cell broadcasting. 
Rather, we anticipate that CCA's members, like other Participating CMS 
Providers, will continue to employ the techniques that they have been 
deploying as a matter of best practice. Accordingly, given the inherent 
flexibility in the best approximates geo-targeting standard, we find no 
basis for granting relief from this requirement.

Timeframe for Supporting Embedded References

    21. CTIA and CCA request we revise the compliance timeframe for the 
embedded reference requirement. We decline to do so for the five 
largest Participating CMS Providers--Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, 
and U.S. Cellular--who have indicated that they are able to and intend 
to support embedded references on smartphones capable of processing 
them by the November 1, 2017 deadline. We observe that the WEA R&O 
explicitly made clear that the embedded reference requirement can be 
enabled through software updates, and that Participating CMS Providers 
could implement the necessary changes to their software to make the 
embedded reference capability available to customers. Mobile devices 
that support neither embedded references nor the software updates that 
would provide such capability will not be considered WEA capable.
    22. We nonetheless grant 18 months of relief to smaller, regional 
operators--specifically, all Participating CMS Providers other than the 
largest five--so that they will have additional time to deploy network 
upgrades and learn from the deployment experiences of the largest 
Participating CMS Providers on how best to ensure embedded references 
are smoothly integrated into the WEA system.
    23. CCA argues that its members, which are smaller and regional 
providers, have fewer resources, and that 18 additional months is 
sufficient time to implement the embedded references requirement. We 
agree. As CCA notes, smaller and regional wireless providers within its 
membership do not participate in the Alliance for Telecommunications 
Industry Solutions' (ATIS) standards-setting process and may need 
additional time to review and implement these standards. Further, as 
CCA notes, the capabilities necessary for some providers to implement 
enhanced WEA requirements are still in flux. For example, carriers that 
are currently participating in the WEA program through an application-
based solution need additional time to coordinate, test, and implement 
updates to current standards. This transition may necessitate 
additional time for compliance, coordination, and testing. As the 
Commission has otherwise found, 30 months from the rules' publication 
in the Federal Register, i.e., May 1, 2019, is sufficient time to 
comply with WEA requirements that necessitate the development of 
standards and software, testing, and deployment, and we find this time 
frame to be sufficient and necessary for Participating CMS Providers 
(apart from the five largest) to comply with the embedded references 
deadline, particularly given the difficulties that CCA has described in 
its Petition. We anticipate that this relief will dissuade CCA members 
from withdrawing from WEA participation because they cannot comply with 
the embedded references requirement by the November 1, 2017 deadline.
    24. Finally, we are aware that there will be a short period of time 
between the original November 1, 2017 deadline for embedded references 
and the publication of this Order on Reconsideration in the Federal 
Register, notwithstanding that the record reflects good cause for such 
relief being immediately effective. Accordingly, to the extent 
necessary to support the decision in this Order on Reconsideration, we 
waive the November 1, 2017 deadline for all Participating CMS 
Providers, except for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. 
Cellular, until the publication of this Order in the Federal Register.

Procedural Matters

Accessible Formats

    25. To request materials in accessible formats for people with 
disabilities (braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), 
send an email to [email protected] or call the Consumer & Governmental 
Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).

Paperwork Reduction Act

    26. This document does not contain new or modified information 
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA), Public Law 104-13. Therefore, it does not contain any new or 
modified information collection burdens for small business concerns 
with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork 
Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4).

Congressional Review Act

    27. The Commission will send a copy of this Order in a report to be 
sent to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to 
the Congressional Review Act. See 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).

Supplemental Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    28. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as 
amended, we have prepared a Supplemental Final Regulatory Flexibility 
Analysis (Supplemental FRFA) addressing the actions taken in this 
Order.

Additional Information

    29. People with Disabilities. To request materials in accessible 
formats for people with disabilities (braille, large print, electronic 
files, audio format), send an email to [email protected]

[[Page 57161]]

or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 
(voice), 202-418-0432 (tty).
    30. Additional Information. For additional information on this 
proceeding, contact Gregory Cooke of the Public Safety and Homeland 
Security Bureau, Policy and Licensing Division, [email protected], 
(202) 418-2351.

Ordering Clauses

    31. Accordingly, it is ordered, pursuant to Sections 1, 2, 4(i), 
4(o), 301, 303(r), 303(v), 307, 309, 335, 403, 624(g), and 706 of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i), 
154(o), 301, 301(r), 303(v), 307, 309, 335, 403, 544(g), and 606, as 
well as by sections 602(a), (b), (c), (f), 603, 604 and 606 of the WARN 
Act, 47 U.S.C. 1202(a), (b), (c), (f), 1203, 1204 and 1206, that the 
CTIA Petition is granted to the extent specified herein and denied to 
the extent specified herein.
    32. It is also ordered, pursuant to Sections 1, 2, 4(i), 4(o), 301, 
303(r), 303(v), 307, 309, 335, 403, 624(g), and 706 of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i), 
154(o), 301, 301(r), 303(v), 307, 309, 335, 403, 544(g), and 606, as 
well as by sections 602(a), (b), (c), (f), 603, 604 and 606 of the WARN 
Act, 47 U.S.C. 1202(a), (b), (c), (f), 1203, 1204 and 1206, that the 
CCA Petition is granted to the extent specified herein and denied to 
the extent specified herein.
    33. It is ordered, pursuant to Sections 1, 2, 4(i), 4(o), 301, 
303(r), 303(v), 307, 309, 335, 403, 624(g), and 706 of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i), 
154(o), 301, 301(r), 303(v), 307, 309, 335, 403, 544(g), and 606, as 
well as by sections 602(a), (b), (c), (f), 603, 604 and 606 of the WARN 
Act, 47 U.S.C. 1202(a), (b), (c), (f), 1203, 1204 and 1206, that the 
Order on Reconsideration in PS Docket Nos. 15-91 and 15-94 is hereby 
adopted.
    34. It is further ordered that, as set forth in this Order, that 
except for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular, for which 
the operative date for this requirement remains November 1, 2017, the 
operative date of the requirement imposed by 47 CFR 10.441, published 
at 81 FR 75710, is delayed until May 1, 2019, the date other rules and 
amendments adopted by the WEA R&O were made effective (30 months from 
the publication of the WEA R&O in the Federal Register, published at 81 
FR 75710).
    35. It is further ordered that the provisions of this Order on 
Reconsideration will become effective immediately upon publication in 
the Federal Register.
    36. It is further ordered that, effective upon the adoption of this 
order, that the requirements imposed by 47 CFR 10.441, published at 81 
FR 75710, are waived to the extent set forth in this Order.
    The rules in this part are issued pursuant to the authority 
contained in the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act, Title VI of 
the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006, Public Law 
109-347, Titles I through III of the Communications Act of 1934, as 
amended, and Executive Order 13407 of June 26, 2006, Public Alert and 
Warning System, 71 FR 36975 (2006).

List of Subjects

47 CFR Part 10

    Wireless emergency alerts.

47 CFR Part 11

    Emergency alert system.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-25673 Filed 12-1-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P