cell broadcast

Cell Broadcast services in the Sultanate of Oman

2010-05-20T06:11:00.001-07:00

Cell Broadcast service is available in all governorates and regions of Sultanate of Oman.
Although this is a great service, the channels being implemented are different from those recommended internationally for use. A list of some of the important channels being used are:
001 - Emergency - Governmental emergency requests such as evacuating areas etc.
005 - Municipality - information and announcements
006 - Sports - Oman national teams news
007 - Tourist Info
009 - Prayer Time - Daily prayer’s time and Ramadan announcements
010 – News - Business and international news
015 - Governmental - Daily government and ministries news
050 - Location Info - the area name where customer is located

Sri Lanka’s mass alert warning

2009-02-23T02:47:00.000-08:00

Dialog Telekom PLC in collaboration with its partners Dialog University of Moratuwa Mobile Communications Research Laboratory and Microimage Technologies together with the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) of Sri Lanka launched Sri Lanka’s first ever mass alert warning system; the ‘Disaster and Emergency Warning Network’ (DEWN) yesterday under the patronage of Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe.

Speaking on the launch of DEWN Group Chief Executive Officer, Dialog Telekom PLC, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya said that “There are 10 million people in this country who have access to telecommunication and mobile services. Now the mobile has become a powerful tool which could be called as a ‘Digital Empowerment Device’ and our citizens are digitally empowered into the digital network”. Dr. Wijayasuriya went onto say that now one can even provide banking and other information services via a mobile phone unit adding that the Dialog News Alert service has now reached 350,000 subscribers.

Cell Broadcast warning service in Japan

2007-11-07T04:28:00.000-08:00

In 2008, DoCoMo Japan, will begin a severe-weather and earthquake warning service using the cell broadcast service. Data from the meteorological agency will be broadcast to phones from cell towers.
Included will be earthquake warnings that will flow from a new system introduced earlier this year that attempts to give notice to people in the few seconds between an earthquake striking and the strong shaking waves reaching people.

New York will send crisis text via CB

2007-09-24T04:45:00.000-07:00

Sept 2007_Abstract NY Post:
In the aftermath of the Deutsche Bank fire and the
Midtown steam-pipe explosion, city officials yesterday announced they
will begin testing rapid-alert programs to rush text messages to New
Yorkers' cellphones. Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler told lawmakers at a City Council hearing that a
pilot program using text messages as an early-alert system for
communities will be ready to roll out within a few months.

"We expect to launch the pilot at the end of this year. At the same
time, we are wary of it, because we know that the communications
infrastructure isn't as reliable as we would like," he said of brief
text messages that would be limited to 60 characters.

The Bloomberg administration has its eyes on what could be a more
effective alert system that would use mobile-phone networks to send
emergency messages to anyone carrying a phone within a specific swath of
the city.

Called "cell broadcasting," the alert system would require mobile-phone
companies to make upgrades to their infrastructure - changes that City
Hall is pushing for.

"It is not possible for us to use cell broadcasting today, because
wireless carriers have resisted investing resources in this emerging
technology," Skyler said.

Abstract NYpost

Cell Broadcast services in India

2006-10-28T04:16:00.000-07:00

The Indian operator BSNL has introduced a cell broadcast services through which vital information and messages can be given to all subscribers in a particular or entire service area.
Cell broadcast services can be utilised to provide vital information about any disaster, disaster management measures or any other important information. The location-based services include different services, including: traffic alert service, emergency service, public safety and information regarding weather etc.
BSNL cellular service in India has more than 17.8 million cellular customers, garnering 24 percent of all mobile users as its subscribers.

Cell Broadcast named in Wikipedia

2006-08-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

An explication about Cell Broadcasting can be found in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_Broadcast

The potential of Cell Broadcast technology

2006-08-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

The ability to broadcast messages has been around since the GSM Phase 2 Technology Specification was introduced in 1995. However, only in the last few years have network operators, started to deploy cell broadcast-based services.

Why did they take so long? The answer is simple: business managers at wireless operators did not think they could generate a profit with a one-directional, subscriptionless broadcast service. However, it is now clear that cell broadcast is a useful service with profit potential that enables operators to provide broadcast information to specifically targeted subgroups of their subscriber base.

In today's handsets, selecting a channel can be a tedious task. Another helpful GSM feature is "Over the Air programming of the SIM card." Potentially, subscribers could select their preferred channels on the carrier's Web site and have them downloaded onto the SIM card in their handsets via this technology (under full control of the carrier).

Cell broadcast technology is in an early adoption stage in North America. The technology is available, but work needs to be done to package it and offer it as a product to subscribers. For GSM network operators, it is a challenge to define services that will use the cell broadcast capability of their network. Currently a cell broadcast service is also being defined for CDMA. It is a matter of time before the first cell broadcast-based service will be launched in the U.S. This is yet another opportunity for GSM operators to differentiate themselves from PCS competitors.

Abstract article SYS-CON Media Inc.

Cell Phones Join Emergency Broadcast Network

2006-08-10T03:13:00.000-07:00

12 July 2006:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security in the USA, is demonstrating today a new system for warnings to be sent as text messages to mobile cell phones.
The warnings, for terrorist attacks or natural disasters such as hurricanes, are intended to be of use to both emergency responders and the general public. In many cases, the text messages sent to mobile phones will alert the reader to check TV stations for more information.
By the end of the year, Homeland Security expects to roll it out first in the Gulf Coast states, hard hit by recent hurricanes, and then to large cities around the country. Consumers will automatically receive the alerts, but can opt out.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with technology research firm Current Analysis, noted that automated text messages for emergencies are already used in such countries as the UK and Israel.
"I think we're going to hit a point soon, with 3G and so on, where you won't need to go to another medium," he said. "You can watch the video or audio information, as well as receive the text messages, on your cell phone." He pointed out that a 3G system also could provide more bandwidth than the current system, to avoid overloading.

Gadget Blog Corrections Blog: Cell Broadcast

2006-01-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

Gadget Blog Corrections Blog: Cell Broadcast

There is a website about switching on (or off) Cell Broadcast functions on mobile phones: www.cb-diensten.nl. On the right lower corner you will find entry to the database.

History and Importance of Cell Broadcast

2005-11-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

By nature, all radio systems are multi point to multi point systems, unless you force them not to be so, by adding elaborate protocols. Cellular phone networks are radio networks and are therefore naturally suited to Broadcasting.

Back in 1897 Guglielmo Marconi called his invention the “Wireless Telegraph”, because he wanted his customers to visualize the use to which the system would be put. In order to make radio behave like a telegraph network, Marconi had to introduce a regime of call signs and traffic procedures to control the flow of traffic. As far as any sender of a telegram was concerned, the telegram was delivered from point to point, so the illusion was complete.

Nevertheless the fact remains that signals are broadcast from a base station, but reception is intentionally limited by means of protocols resident in the terminal (the phone). A simple change in those protocols would enable any terminal to pick up Broadcasts from any base station.

This point was not lost on the ETSI’s GSM committee, (who, 100 years after the invention of radio) added a feature called ‘Cell Broadcast’ to the GSM standard. This is contained in standards GSM 03.49 and others. Technologically this was successful and had been demonstrated in Paris by 1997. By now all GSM phones and base stations have the feature latent within them, though sometimes it is not enabled in the network.

There are four important points to recall about the use of Cell Broadcasting for emergency purposes.
1: It is already resident in most network infrastructure and in the phones, so there is no need to build any towers, lay any cable, or write any software or replace terminals.
2: It is not affected by traffic load; therefore it will be of use during a disaster, when load spikes tend to crash networks, as the London bombings 7/7 showed. Also it does not cause any significant load of its own, so would not add to the problem.
3: It is geo scalable, so a message can reach hundreds of millions of people across continents within a minute.
4 It is geo specific, so that government disaster managers can avoid panic and road jamming, by telling each neighborhood specifically, if they should evacuate or stay put.

In short, it is such a powerful national security asset, that it would be inexcusable not to seize the chance to put an existing technology, to the benefit of the safety of citizen.

Abstract from: Mark Wood, Hon. CTA CEASa.

Cell Broadcast in Sri Lanka

2005-11-16T01:57:00.000-08:00

SRI LANKA: November 15, 2005_COLOMBO - Next time a disaster such as a tsunami strikes Sri Lanka, officials say they hope to use text messages and the mobile phone system to give people the crucial few minutes warning they need to seek safety. The Dec. 26 tsunami struck Sri Lanka hours after it hit Thailand, but no warning was issued and even if it had been, many poor villagers would not have heard it. Within weeks, mobile phone operator Dialog Telekom says it was working on ways to solve the problem.
"If we go back to Dec. 26, many lessons were learnt," Dialog chief executive Hans Wijayasuriya said at the launch of the mobile phone-based warning system on Monday. "You can convert a mobile phone into a powerful alarm device." The scheme will be launched first as a pilot project in parts on the island's south coast, much of which was devastated by the giant wave that killed nearly 40,000 Sri Lankans. It will use text messages to alert police officers, village chiefs and other important officials to warnings, and can also send a blanket message to all phones in an area through "cell broadcasting" -- more versatile than a normal text or phone call.
"What usually happens in a disaster is that the network is overloaded and calls don't get through," Dialog research and development manager Ravi Abeysekera told Reuters. "That isn't a problem with cell broadcasting." The system could be running island-wide by the middle of 2006, he said. In the aftermath of the disaster, Sri Lankan officials put up "tsunami zone" signs in some coastal areas advising residents of the best route to higher ground. Holland had developed a similar disaster warning system, Abeysekera said, but the technology was still in its infancy. Some 3.5 million of Sri Lanka's 19 million people have a mobile phone, but to reach a wider number the system will also use alarms linked to the mobile phone network that will trigger sirens or bells in police stations, churches and temples in the event of an alert. Government officials will control the alert system from the capital Colombo. "There is no possibility for any misuse by anybody who wants to create panic and have a field day looting everywhere," said Tilak Ranavirajah, secretary to the Minister of Public Security, Law and Order. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

Dutch test (CB)SMS disaster alarm

2005-11-05T01:34:00.000-08:00

Correspondents in The Hague
OCTOBER 06, 2005

The Dutch Government started testing a special warning system that will send text messages to mobile phones to alert the population in the event of a disaster.

The technology for the system, called 'cell broadcast', allows the authorities to send text messages to mobile phone users in a specific area. The first tests recently started in Zoetermeer, a town in the west central Netherlands.

"The advantage of this system is that it allows us to send messages without having to know the phone numbers of the users in the region. Instead of sending a message to a specific known mobile phone you can send a text to all mobile phones in a specific zone," Frank Wassenaar of the Dutch interior ministry said.

The mobile phone broadcast system will be used in addition to the other warning systems in place to be used if disaster strikes, such as sirens and special emergency broadcasts on radio and television.

The project is a joint effort of the Dutch ministries of health, transport and economic affairs. The ministries will pay some 2.5 million euros (three million dollars) to use the cell broadcast technology over the next two years.

The government is working with mobile phone operators KPN, Vodafone and Telfort, which cover some 85 per cent of all Dutch mobile phone owners.

In the future tests with the system are planned in the Dutch capital Amsterdam and the south-western province of Zeeland

Agence France-Presse

UN: worldwide early warning system

2005-09-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

Interesting facts about the reform of the UN, statement in reform documents:
f) Work expeditiously towards the establishment of a worldwide early warning system for all natural hazards, with regional nodes, building on existing national and regional capacity such as the newly established Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System
UN Refrom document

Cell Broadcast vision of ITU

2005-08-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) is committed to an early warning system for disaster reduction. ITU is a world-wide organization which brings governments and industry together to coordinate the establishment and operation of global telecommunication networks and services.
Potentially, one of the most effective tools available to warn citizens maybe the mobile phone. Among its many technological strengths is the fact that a warning message can be broadcast to a specific geographic mobile ‘cell’ to warn of a disaster.
However, to utilize information and communication technologies for disaster prevention two things are necessary: political will and international cooperation.

Cell Broadcast in China (Hong Kong)

2005-08-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

The Hong Kong government used Cell Broadcast during the SARS crisis in May 2003, when with the help of the six local operators it broadcasts messages to every phone user in the territory - equivalent to 90% of the population.

Cell Broadcast in Europe

2005-08-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

Netherlands:
The Dutch Government starts to use Cell Broadcasting for emergency warnings. The infrastructure is already in operation with the Operators: KPN, Telfort and Vodafone. It is believed to be the first multi Operator Warning System in the world, based on Cell Broadcasting with Government use.
In cooperation with Dutch IT and Telco companies the Dutch Government wants to achieve the goal to being able to instantly communicate to more than 7.7 million mobile phone users in case of an emergency

Belgium:
Belgian interior minister Patrick Dewael intends to warn every Belgian resident via (CB)SMS in times of national emergency. Apparently, Belgium will be one of the first European countries to use cell broadcast for this purpose.

Cell Broadcast in Macau

2005-08-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

Mobile Operator CTM is starting to make available warnings and updated weather information via Cell Broadcast information services:
Whether Report: 889, at: 7:30, 13:30 and 18:30;
Info & Warnings: 834.

Cell Broadcast in Thailand

2005-08-20T01:33:00.000-07:00

Bangkok, February 23rd 2005:

"True Corporation president and CEO Supachai Chearavanont said that the company would upgrade some of its cell stations to be able to broadcast messages alerting its mobile phone users using a technique called Cell Broadcasting. After the tsunami event, True did not have a chance to fulfil its role to communicate to people because the capacity of its cell sites was limited, he said.

True plans to upgrade 400 cell stations, out of a total of around 1000, in the next couple of months to have Cell Broadcast capability.
The technique will allow the operator to broadcast streaming text messages to between 100,000 and a million users a minute, he said, noting that every operator should coordinate in this project in order to create an efficient nationwide warning system.