SG Doc 63/16

LS from ITU re: Emergency Alerting Using

Cell Broadcasting

Meeting Name & Number: SG#63

Meeting Date: 14th to 15th May 2007
Meeting Location: Paris, France

Document Source: ITU

Document Creation Date: 24th April 2007

Document Status: For Approval

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For Discussion

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High Level Document Summary:

This document contains a draft LS from ITU in relation to a proposal to harmonise on two cell ranges for
the purpose of emergency alerting and for civic purposes within Cell Broadcasting. The LS seeks to raise
awareness of the proposal and to liaise with the appropriate standardisation bodies. The purpose of the LS
is to bring attention to the start of this activity within the ITU.

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© Copyright of the GSM MoU Association 2007
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COM 2 – LS 67 – E

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION COM 2 – LS 67 – E

TELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION SECTOR
English only
STUDY PERIOD 2005-2008
Original: English
Question(s): 1/2 Geneva, 30 January - 8 February 2007
Ref.: TD 70 Rev.5 (PLEN/2)
Source: ITU-T SG2 (Geneva, 30 January – 8 February 2007)
Title: Cell Broadcast Message Identifiers

LIAISON STATEMENT
To: 3GPP (GSMA/UMTS) TSGs GERAN, RAN, CT and SA
3GPP2 (IS95 CDMA)
GSMA SRG
EMTEL (GSMA Emergency Telecommunication Committee)
FCC Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee CMSAAC
WGET Working Group on Emergency Telecommunications
SPRINT (NEXTEL)
TETRA Trans European Terrestrial Radio PSC
EU Public Safety Communications study group (NARTUS)
CBF Cell Broadcast Forum
CTIA Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association
CEASa Citizens Emergency Alert Services Association
ISO
APCO
MESA
TIA TR45.2
Cc: PCP-TDR
Approval: ITU-T SG2, 8 February 2007
For: Information/Action/Comment
Deadline: October 2007
Contact: Mark Wood Tel: +44 7 818 400 124
UK Email: mark.wood@engineer.com
Please don’t change the structure of this table, just insert the necessary information.

Q.1/2 received a contribution (which is attached in Annex 1) proposing an activity to harmonise on

two cell ranges for the purpose of emergency alerting and for civic purposes within Cell
Broadcasting. This was driven by the action list output of the joint OASIS/ITU workshop on
emergency telecommunications (Early Autumn 2006), and the appropriate excerpt is attached as
annex 2. Whilst there was support for the concept, there was no consensus on the specific proposal
for a solution, namely to use two channel ranges of 100 number in the range less then 1000
(decimal). The initial activity that was agreed was to raise the awareness of this proposal and to

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COM 2 – LS 67 – E

liaise with the appropriate standardisation bodies. The purpose of this liaison is to bring to your
attention the start of this activity within the ITU.
Q.1/2 would welcome your comments on this work, together with the identification of any relevant
documents that address specific channel identification in Cell Broadcasting. The next meeting of
SG2 is October 2007, and your response prior to that meeting, in order that work can progress
would be welcome

ITU-T\COM-T\COM02\LS\67E.DOC
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COM 2 – LS 67 – E

Annex 1 Com 2-C42

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION COM 2 – C 42 – E
TELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION SECTOR
English only
STUDY PERIOD 2005-2008
Original: English
Question(s): ½
STUDY GROUP 2 – CONTRIBUTION 42
Source: UK
Title: Proposal to Harmonise Cell Broadcasting Message Source Identifier uses for Civic
Purposes.

Abstract
TD246(GEN) to ITU-T SG2 (January/February 2007) identifies an action from the ITU-T/OASIS
workshop (October 2006) with regard to Cell Broadcasting, and the interim agreement in the USA
and Netherlands related to the common use of the code 920. This paper builds upon these activities
and makes some proposals as to the role that the ITU T SG2 could have going forward in the
administration of Cell Broadcast Message Identifier for civil broadcasts.

Introduction
Many countries are in various stages of discussion regarding the introduction of Cell Broadcasting
(3GPP 023.41 Technical realization of Cell Broadcast Service Version 7) as a means to better warn
and inform the public, reducing their vulnerability and thus reducing the impact of disaster. It is a
national matter whether or not Cell Broadcasting is introduced. If an NRA chooses to permit the
deployment of Cell Broadcasting, it makes sense that the national availability of cell broadcasting
can also reach visiting roamers from other countries, with instructions and warnings. The critical
element to the successful introduction of cell broadcasting, for both national and roamed terminals,
is a harmonised solution for a limited set of Cell Broadcast message identifiers.

Discussion
Cell Broadcasting has an important use because it is carried over a dedicated cell broadcast channel
(CBCH) and is under the control of the BSC rather than MSC. This permits its working during
severe overload situations provided the cell is not halted. Many governments are interested in this in
national disasters. There are examples of various requirements for multiple MIs for a whole range
of such channels to solve local language problems for example. A further band of MIs are required
that could be used for civic purposes of various sorts as well as for alerts, and in an alternative
range. In agreeing the MI band (or range), the terminal would be able to interpret any channel (or
code) within that MI band (or range) as containing alerts, causing a different alert tone, and more
persistent and intrusive behaviour from the terminal. It would be a national matter to decide whether
to use MIs for the purposes of either civic alerting or civic needs generally.

An important point is to prevent unwanted reception of commercial traffic which may be perceived
as spam. Accordingly liaison is required with other forums to encourage the use of other MIs for
commercial purposes rather then those in these civic bands.

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COM 2 – LS 67 – E

Initial investigation of the available bands (or ranges) has shown that the 'Band' (range) of MIs
between 900-999 (decimal) is an appropriate range for the purpose of alerting. Also since in 3GPP
023.41 there is no flag to set 'alert' state at the moment, it further suggests that the 900-999 band
(or range) be allocated for alerting.
For example, Holland and USA trials, being run by CEASa1, have in the absence of an harmonised
allocation for safety purposes, agreed an interim use of the channel 920. This is pending the
completion of any further developments in either an assignment or a process to assign the allocation
of a code.
Further investigation has identified the additional range (or band) of 500-599 for civic purposes.

Proposals
The UK would seek the agreement of ITU T SG2 to the following proposals, presented in no
specific order.

Proposal 1
That the ITU-T SG2 agree to develop the processes, based on contributions, required to allocate
MIs, subject to Proposal 2.

Proposal 2
That the ITU liaise with appropriate standards bodies (e.g. GSMA, 3GPP and 3GPP2) outlining
a) the above proposals
b) in the absence of any other international forum, the ITU-T will, initially, be the assignment
forum for MI’s. This will require the ITU T SG2 to develop processes that will allow for
request for MI allocations to be evaluated and assigned, and published.

Proposal 3
That networks and administrations refrain from using either of these channel ranges for commercial
purposes.

Proposal 4
That the MI band 900 - 999 (Decimal) be declared as preferred for Civic Alerting purposes.

Proposal 5
That the MI Band 500 - 599 (Decimal) be preferred for non alerting civic purposes.

1 CEASa is Civil Emergency Alert Service Association international, a not for profit organisation
participating in trials using Cell Broadcasting techniques.

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COM 2 – LS 67 – E

Annex 2 Excerpts from OASIS/ITU Workshop October 2006

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION
STUDY GROUP 2
TELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION SECTOR
TD 241 (GEN/2)
STUDY PERIOD 2005-2008 English only
Original: English
Question(s): ALL Geneva, 30 January - 8 February 2007
TEMPORARY DOCUMENT
Source: TSB
Title: Highlights and action list report of the Joint ITU-T / OASIS Workshop and
Demonstration of Advances in ICT Standards for Public Warning

On 19-20 October 2006, ITU-T and OASIS held a joint Workshop and Demonstration of Advances
in ICT Standards for Public Warning. Full information, including the presentations made, can be
found at:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/ictspw/index.html
The Annex to this TD contains the report by the Co-Chairmen concerning highlights and actions
resulting from the workshop.
Please note that some items may be of interest to ITU-T Study Group 2, in particular the action
regarding study as appropriate the feasibility and advisability of allocation of “emergency alert
Message source Identifiers (MI)” for Cell Broadcast in systems worldwide.

Annex: Highlights and Actions

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COM 2 – LS 67 – E

ANNEX

Co-chairs' Highlights and Actions List

This Workshop and Demonstration was announced through Telecommunications Standardization

Bureau (TSB) Circular 98, which also stated the specific objectives:
 To review progress concerning public warning since 2003, including the Tampere
Convention
 To demonstrate the availability and effectiveness of interoperable technologies based on
the OASIS Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) content standard which is applicable to all
alerts and notifications in disasters and emergency situations
 To identify existing standardization gaps, including authorization and authentication of
public warnings and the attendant implications for public policy
 To prepare an action list for filling gaps and promoting public warning standardization,
and identify key players that could collaborate in such work.

The following Highlights reflect the review of progress, demonstrations of technology, and
identification of standardization gaps as these were extracted from the main points in the various
presentations and discussions during the Workshop and Demonstration.
Highlights:
 Collaborative actions are necessary to ensure that standards-based, all-media, all-hazards public
warning becomes an essential infrastructure component available to all societies worldwide.
This requires cooperation among the relevant standards development organizations and
includes substantial international cooperation with users and industry (emergency alert
needs are similar worldwide; industry and customers want interoperable solutions; solutions
deployable worldwide will reduce the unit cost).
 Official sources of public warnings can be overwhelmed with telecommunications traffic when
major disasters occur. These sources can now take advantage of the announced no-charge
offer to mount copies of authoritative, authenticated, public alerts in CAP format by any
official source worldwide. One such offer was announced in the workshop by the provider
of the Google Earth / Neopolitan Networks infrastructure.
 A wide range of CAP-based technical solutions for public warning are already on the market:
from CAP-driven sirens: to dissemination using multiple communication media including
distinctive telephone rings, SMS messages over cell phones, broadcast radio and television,
among others; and to tools for analysis and display of CAP alerts.
 The following are among the important considerations when designing public warning
solutions: inter-jurisdictional, national, and regional cooperation; involvement of the user
community in identifying requirements and ascertaining value; need for support of multiple
language in message delivery; involvement of vendors; aiming for low-tech solutions to
ensure relevance for people without access to sophisticated receiving devices; systems to be
designed up-front with security in mind to retain public trust in alerts and warning;
interoperability to be enhanced by common elements and open, international standards.

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 Undue hesitation or failure to warn may be traceable in some cases to the lack of a recognized
"standard of practice" for the issuance of public warnings by official sources.
 If it is desired to have more countries ratify the Tampere Convention, then better outreach
is needed to national telecomm regulators and governments.
 More regulators should get involved in discussions of the topic of public warning and
emergency telecommunications.
 It is appropriate to promote further use and development of data messaging standards and
supporting infrastructure, as well as to reach other systems and network infrastructures,
including at the international level.
 There is no one technology that would satisfy all service and performance expectations;
multi-channel message delivery is needed.
 The management of telecommunications capabilities is crucial during disasters that degrade
the infrastructure, especially where the infrastructure may have been minimal beforehand.
This includes avoiding overload in processing and delivering warning messages,
prioritization of calls, network management and provisioning, and infrastructure
restoration.
 Certain specific details among implementors of CAP should be further discussed, also taking
interoperability and backward compatibility in consideration. Also, the GLIDE (GLobal
IDEntifier) is noted as a scheme in use for assigning unique values of the CAP identifier.

The following Actions List was extracted from the main points in the various presentations and
discussions during the Workshop and Demonstration.
Actions List:
 Coordinate actions to ensure that standards-based, all-media, all-hazards public warning
becomes an essential infrastructure component; within ITU this includes the Partnership
Coordination Panel on Telecommunications for Disaster Reduction (PCP-TDR).
 Complete the actions necessary to publish the CAP standard also as an ITU-T Recommendation.
 Join efforts in increasing support of the CAP standard in various communications systems
(in particular those defined by ITU-T, e.g. H.323, IP Cablecom and NGN).
 Join efforts to promote the deployment of CAP, e.g.:
o Increase awareness of the CAP specification, for example by preparing a joint
ITU-T/ITU-D handbook.
o Support liaisons with ITU-D and developing countries regarding standardization work
in public warning and emergency telecommunication.
o Suggest appropriate forums in which regional coordination for CAP implementation
can be encouraged.
o Promote the use of authoritative and authenticated dissemination facilities for CAP
alerts (such as the Google Earth infrastructure showcased at the workshop)
 Take measures to facilitate a globally harmonized deployment of Cell Broadcast technology,
working within the international standards process and relevant standards bodies as
appropriate:

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o Drawing on expert input from interested parties, develop and disseminate information
on actual use at present and potential applicability and constraints of Cell Broadcast
o On the basis of contributions from the ITU-T membership, study as appropriate the
feasibility and advisability of allocation of "emergency alert Message source
Identifiers (MI)" for Cell Broadcast in systems worldwide, aiming at international
coordination of MI assignment. Workshop participants of the Dutch and Wisconsin
(USA) trial systems held an ad hoc meeting and the Wisconsin system agreed to use
MI 920, as in the Dutch test system, in the interim pending engagement by the
relevant standards committee.
 Engage standards-makers with the WHO program implementing the International Health
Regulations (IHR) to explore in depth how IHR can leverage the standards work already
done and influence future directions.
 Suggest mechanisms that will encourage development and dissemination of Best Practices
concerning CAP implementation and warning system design more generally. Such
mechanisms should give special attention to institutional and technological constraints on
public warning capabilities in developing countries.
 Invite ITU member states to put proposals in the upcoming ITU Plenipotentiary Conference
to incorporate into Plenipotentiary Resolution 36 language to highlight the importance of
the standards work on public warning, for example with the following items:
o Add a "Considering"
the discussions held at the 19-20 October 2006 Joint ITU-T/ OASIS Workshop and
Demonstration of Advances in ICT Standards for Public Warning
o Add a "Further convinced (b)"
that an international standard for communication of alert and warning information
can assist in the provision of effective and appropriate humanitarian assistance and
in mitigating the consequences of disasters, in particular in developing countries
o Add a "Instructs the Directors of the Bureaus"
to collaborate with organizations that are working in the area of standards for
communication of alert and warning information in order to study the appropriate
inclusion of such standards in ITU’s work and their dissemination, in particular
in developing countries
o Add a "Invites Member States"
to undertake collaborative actions to assure that standards-based, all-media,
all-hazards public warning becomes an essential infrastructure component available
to all societies worldwide, including developing countries in particular.

_____________

ITU-T\COM-T\COM02\LS\67E.DOC