Public Safety: NYC PLAN Delivers Mobile Device Alerts

New Yorkers will soon be able to receive potentially life-saving messages to mobile devices alerting them to essential information during times of emergency. 

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate joined top executives from AT&T, Sprint, T-mobile and Verizon at the World Trade Center site to announce the launch of the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN).  Mayor Bloomberg congratulated Chairman Genachowski on a revolutionary use of technology to keep the public safe by keeping them informed.

The system will allow individuals to receive three types of geographically-targeted alerts on their mobile phones, regardless of who their provider is or where they come from:

1. Alerts issued by the President
2. Alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life
3. Amber Alerts

Subscribers may opt to only receive alerts from the President.  The Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act was passed by Congress back in 2006, which required carriers to activate the technology by April 2012.  PLAN will launch in New York by the end of this year, two calendar quarters ahead of schedule.  The system will go national early next year. 

See the FCC announcement here.