Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is seeking input from nine companies providing wireless emergency alerts on how the notifications can be sent in languages other than English and Spanish.
FCC said Monday that Rosenworcel sent letters to AT&T, Cellcom, C-Spire, DISH, Google Fi, Lively, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon as part of efforts to strengthen the use of WEAs in public safety.
WEA messaging was launched in 2012 to alert the public through their mobile devices about missing children, dangerous weather and other imminent threats.
FCC has been working in the past year to improve WEA, proposing rules for better operational readiness as well as requiring performance reports from wireless network providers. The agency also teamed up with state and local governments to study the geographic accuracy of the alerts.
“Today, Wireless Emergency Alerts supports messages only in English and Spanish. That means many non-English speakers in the United States continue to lack crucial information about imminent dangers and other emergencies,” Rosenworcel wrote. “I believe that language should not be a barrier to getting critical information that could save lives.”
She also sent a letter to New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who raised the issue of WEA language accessibility.
