The public warning system for natural disasters was activated yesterday morning when the nation was struck by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake, but the National Communications Commission (NCC) said there remain conditions that need to met before the system functions properly.
Among the irregularities reported yesterday, some mobile phones failed to receive the earthquake warnings, while others received delayed messages or copies of the same message.
The commission said the discrepancies happened depending on the model of the mobile phone, the telecom and other factors.
NCC Department of Network Infrastructure Director Lo Chin-hsien (羅金賢) said the earthquakes were first detected by the Central Weather Bureau, which then transmitted the messages to the cell broadcast entity formed by the National Science and Technology Center of Disaster Reduction.
The entity then delivered the warnings to the cell broadcast centers set up by different telecoms, which in turn sent the warnings to their subscribers in specific regions via their base stations.
The system sends a presidential alert if the magnitude of the earthquake exceeds 5, Lo said.
The bureau detected the earthquake at 11:17.14am and the warning message was sent to the entity at 11:17.32am, Lo said.
“During our tests earlier this year, we found that the warning message can be sent from telecoms to phones in five seconds on fourth-generation [4G] services or in 10 seconds on third–generation [3G] services,” he said, adding that it took mobile phones approximately 32 seconds to 1 minute after the occurrence of the earthquake to receive the message.
Lo said subscribers of Asia-Pacific Telecom, Taiwan Star and Taiwan Mobile 3G and 4G services received the presidential alert yesterday.
Far EasTone Telecommunication’s 4G service subscribers did not receive the alerts because the company was upgrading its system, but alerts were sent through its 3G system, he said.
Chunghwa Telecom said some of its 4G subscribers reported having received the alerts, while others did not.
“The system is still in the testing phase and needs more fine-tuning,” Lo said.
Meanwhile, the NCC stressed that the messages can only be transmitted via 3G and 4G networks, and that second-generation service subscribers do not receive the messages. Users of 3G services do not receive the alerts if they are using the phone or are online.
The commission has listed on its Web site 21 smartphones that support of the system, including models manufactured by HTC, Apple, LG, OPPO, NEXTBIT, Mi and Stylus. It also lists phone manufacturers that offer over-the-air operating system upgrade so that some of their 3G or 4G mobile phones can support PWS.
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