In addition to the siren alarm, an automatic message on the smartphone also warns of extreme storms in the future. The regulation on the “Public Warning System” has now entered the four-week revision phase. It will of course take some time before the new warning system works in practice, because the mobile phone operators and the warning authorities first have to set up their infrastructure for it.
The so-called cell broadcast technology is to be used for disaster warnings in the event of various events, such as huge storms that have hit Austria in recent days, but also terrorist attacks, for example. According to information from the State Secretariat for Digitization, “Cell Broadcast” is an independent message transmission technology that is not based on SMS. The warning appears as a kind of push message on the display of the mobile phone.
The alarm system could have come in handy during Thursday’s storm, Harald Eitner, head of Styria’s civil defense department, told the “Kleine Zeitung”: “Because at short notice I can speak to any mobile phone user, five minutes earlier would have been enough.”
No registration required
According to experts, an advantage of the system is that you do not have to register separately and that no data is collected because the telephone number is not used. The technology takes advantage of the fact that every cell phone dials in to nearby cell towers — for example, if a state alert center detects extreme weather conditions, it can send a regional push notification as a warning.
Disadvantage of the whole: the construction of the “cell broadcast” warning system requires the creation of a separate infrastructure at the mobile phone operators and at the official bodies that can trigger warnings (the nine state warning centers and the Ministry of the Interior).
The mobile network operators and the alert authorities now have to set up their infrastructure in accordance with the provisions of the regulation. The system should be set up in the second half of the year, but “actual operation also depends on the speed at which the mobile network operators build their infrastructure,” according to the secretariat’s release – so it’s unclear when the system will actually start. .
“Time-consuming tuning”
The implementation of the associated EU directive has been going on for a long time. “The creation of the concept for the total system, the development of the technical interfaces and the networking of the government with the GSM operators is very complex” and required “a time-consuming coordination” between the nine federal states, the ministries, the RTR and the three mobile operators.
The Ministry of the Interior is currently working on creating the necessary infrastructure to activate alerts. The first tests could take place once the mobile operators have reached their infrastructure. The federal states themselves are responsible for the production of their release systems.
“Almost 90 percent of all Austrians now have a smartphone”, emphasizes State Secretary Florian Tursky (ÖVP), “it is clear that warnings are also sent via this”. The past few weeks in particular have shown how important and necessary it is to inform people quickly and easily. The nationwide siren warning system will continue to exist, warnings are also currently available via the “Katwarn” app.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
