The Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA) has unveiled through a demonstration at its annual general meeting the new mobile cell broadcast early warning system for the Solomon Islands.
Cell broadcast technology enables rapid, secure, and congestion-free emergency alerts, reaching all mobile handsets in a targeted geographic area without relying on individual phone numbers or internet access.
Messages will reach users even if the subscriber has zero prepaid credit, or the user is visiting from overseas, or the handset has no SIM card installed.
The new emergency alert system is part of a broader regional initiative led by the GSMA and PITA and supported by Omnitouch, an Australian firm providing the cell broadcast service software solution working closely with the national agencies of each country.
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"The partners recognise that in all Pacific markets the mobile communications networks have the widest reach and therefore they can be used to provide an additional channel for disseminating alert messages to the population (to compliment existing channels that might include radio, TV, sirens, apps, social media etc)," PITA says in its announcement.
Aside from local government agencies and bodies, stakeholders in the Solomon Islands project include local mobile network operators Our Telekom and Mobile.
Cell broadcast alerts will be composed and managed by the National Disaster Centre and Solomon Islands Meteorological Service.
"In the coming months this regional initiative will complete the Solomons Islands implementation and undertake a national test as well as bring the cell broadcast system to three additional Pacific markets," PITA says.
"A number of countries are now lined up to adopt the platform following the successful pilot in the Solomon Islands.
"These include the Cook Islands, Kiribati, and Samoa, reflecting growing regional interest in strengthening public early warning systems."