Verizon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg, federal agency officials, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and representatives from AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile announced on Tuesday (May 10) plans to deploy the Personal Localized Alerting Network in New York City by December 31, more than three months earlier than the April 2012 deployment date set by the federal government.
The announcement of PLAN, also known as the Commercial Mobile Alert Service, included Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The FCC established PLAN to allow participating wireless providers to send emergency alerts as textlike messages to their subscribers. The network will allow FEMA to accept and aggregate alerts from authorized federal, state and local government officials, and then send the alerts over a secure interface to participating wireless providers, which will distribute the alerts to subscribers.
"This project is a great example of the government and private sectors coming together to accomplish something for the public good," Seidenberg said. "Verizon supported the legislation behind this initiative, and we have been involved at every step of the way in developing the rules that will make this service work."
Verizon will also have PLAN-capable handsets available by the end of 2011.
"As a company whose headquarters are across the street from the site of the World Trade Towers, Verizon is acutely aware of the critical public safety issues in New York City," Seidenberg said. "We're committed to using our technology to put these empowering new tools in our customers' hands, and we are proud to do our part in helping create a safer, more secure society."
In addition to New York City, Verizon will also deploy the Personal Localized Alerting Network in Washington, D.C., by the end of the year.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 104 million total connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 196,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.
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