The government is looking to implement a mobile alerting system to contact members of the public in emergencies such as the Manchester bombing or the London Bridge attack.
In a post on its website, The Cabinet Office has invited mobile operators to offer their solutions, ones that would enable the police to push emergency messages to members of the public. A key aspect of the proposal is the ability to restrict transmission to a fixed geographic area, the scope of which will be determined by the police.
Two-stage trial
It is envisaged that the initial trials will be completed by early spring this year. The Cabinet Office expects there to be two stages. “Stage I: Insights gained from existing experience within the selected supplier. A face-to-face presentation of the initial insights will help to inform the next stage and decision as to whether to proceed. Stage 2: engagement, as appropriate, with the four MNOs and other appropriate suppliers of network equipment and services.”
The government had previously conducted trials for such a system back in 2013 but has had to return to the plans as it admitted that the “that the technical and commercial landscapes have undergone a lot of recent change.”