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SMS instead of app: On the planned nationwide warning day, the warning of the population via the so-called cell broadcast system is to be tested for the first time.
The exact date for the warning day, which will probably take place in September, has not yet been set. This was announced by a spokeswoman for the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) on request. With cell broadcasting, all mobile phone users who are in a radio cell at a certain time receive a message. This then looks like an SMS. Unlike the warning apps Nina and Katwarn, this also reaches people who do not use a smartphone.
The BBK, whose previous president Armin Schuster is to become Minister of the Interior in Saxony next week, announced that the upgrading of the modular warning system and the provision of the interfaces to the mobile network operators will be completed by June 30th. “The goal of everyone involved is to implement the system as quickly as possible and thus switch from test operation to active operation,” said the BBK.
Warning day 2022 not yet exactly scheduled
It is expected that the mobile network operators will provide a trial version for cell broadcasting by the warning day. The network operators and end device manufacturers have until February 2023 for normal operation. In a technical guideline published by the Federal Network Agency on February 24, certain security standards are specified, among other things, so that hackers cannot send false warnings.
Mobile network operators should provide a trial version
FDP domestic politician Sandra Bubendorfer-Licht had told the news portal “The Pioneer” this week with a view to cell broadcasting: “We missed it, sloppy, procrastinated.” The Federal Ministry of the Interior said the German warning mix via app, radio, television , city information boards and the Internet already meet the requirements of the EU code for electronic communications. Cell broadcasting is a useful addition here. The federal government created the legal basis for the introduction of cell broadcasting after the flood disaster last July. At that time there was criticism that many citizens in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia had not been warned in good time and urgently enough about the impending floods.
A lot went wrong on the first nationwide warning day on September 10, 2020 (DIGITAL TELEVISION reported). Among other things, the message from the warning apps Nina and Katwarn only arrived on the smartphones a good half hour late. If it had been an emergency, many citizens would not have noticed. The Federal Ministry of the Interior had therefore described the test alarm as “failed”.
Image source:
- Smartphone message messenger: © dolphfyn – Fotolia.com
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