AT&T confirms it accidentally relayed an emergency alert message from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to U-verse customers in parts of Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan and Mississippi.
Red banners lined the television screens of viewers in the affected areas, falsely alerting them an important message was inbound. U-verse is AT&T's fiber optic service.
"A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) investigation indicates that a nationally syndicated radio show not affiliated with AT&T accidentally sent a message over the National Emergency Alert System," stated an AT&T spokeswoman. "This false message was carried on our network, as well as some other providers. We apologize to our customers."
The FEMA message didn't cause a panic as did the infamous 1938 reading of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" on the radio for the first time. No, this transmission is best described as nothing more than a nuisance.
The alert is said to have cautioned viewers to keep phone lines open and to sit tight for an important message from the White House.
"We interrupt our programming at the request of the White House. This is the Emergency Alert System. All normal programming has been discontinued during this emergency," stated the alert messages.
The alert messages began popping up on screens around 10 a.m. EDT on Oct. 24.
"This morning, there was an inappropriate playing of the national emergency alert notification tones on a syndicated radio broadcast," FEMA spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre stated. "There is not a national emergency. Today's broadcast triggered alert notification in states where the alert has been played."
The FEMA spokesperson said his organization was working with the FCC to quantify the scale of the incident.
"Certain alerts, like the one broadcast today, are designed to be automatically picked up and rebroadcast by other radio and TV stations," the FEMA spokesperson said. "FEMA and the FCC are currently working with broadcasters to determine the full scope of the situation."
While the FCC helps FEMA figure out exactly what went wrong, the commission recently announced its intent to launch an investigation into the next generation of mobile telecommunications. On a quest to scope ahead into the fifth generation of mobile telecommunications, 5G, the FCC will look into the feasibility of launching wireless networks that operate above 24 Ghz on what's called millimeter waves.
"It's been long assumed that frequencies even higher up on the spectrum chart could not support mobile applications due to physical and technical limitations," says FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler. "But smart thinkers, innovators, and technologists are devising solutions to this previous perceived limitation."
