Don’t panic, this is an exercise. On Twitter, dozens of Internet users evoke the appearance of an alert message on their smartphone, accompanied by a shrill sound. In question, a national test of the FR-Alert system, organized by the Ministry of the Interior.
“No action required”
“This Tuesday, February 28, at the end of the morning, the Digital Department of the Ministry of the Interior (DNUM) will send notifications in most regions of metropolitan France through mobile phone operators. The DNUM specifies that no action is required on the part of the citizens who receive these alert messages, ”explains the Ministry of the Interior on its site.
Questioned by Tech&Co, the Ministry of the Interior evokes a technical test, deployed on mobiles whose user has checked this option (in the menu dedicated to notifications). Other tests will also be implemented in the coming weeks, this time targeting the entire population in a defined area.
Deployed during the summer of 2022, FR-Alert fulfills a new European Union obligation for all member countries to create a mobile alert system, which has existed for many years abroad.
The operation of FR-Alert is elementary: in an emergency (attack, natural disaster, etc.), the authorities use the repeater antennas of the operators to immediately reach all smartphones in a given area, to display a notification there . and activate an audible alert. Frequencies other than those of the usual networks (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G) are used to avoid any saturation.
The main advantage of the system is that it works on all existing mobile phone models, completely independent of the operator or of any application to download.
For almost a year, numerous FR-Alert tests have been implemented, with a first real activation on July 18, 2022, in the Gironde, in connection with a forest fire. The inhabitants of the municipalities of Balizac, Budos and Landiras were then ordered to evacuate the premises.
Source: BFM TV
