“This is a test message as part of the new public alert system. It is this message that millions of French people were able to see appear on their screens, this Tuesday, everywhere in France. The authorities tested this Tuesday at the national level FR-Alert which must now alert the population in the event of risk or danger, immediately on the telephone.
“This Tuesday, February 28 at the end of the morning, notifications will be sent in most regions of metropolitan France by the Digital Department of the Ministry of the Interior (DNUM) via mobile telephone operators”, had indicated the authorities upstream .
Didn’t receive this alert message? The government indicates that, as this is a test, these notifications were sent “to the channel dedicated to technical tests” which smartphone owners can activate in the settings of their device.
A message broadcast via telecommunications antennas
These alerts “take the form of priority notifications that arrive at the same time on all mobile phones, appear on the phone screen, even if it is locked. The message can be accompanied by an audible alert as well as a vibration to affirm its critical nature, ”explains the Ministry of the Interior on its website. These alerts may be available in several languages, “especially when they concern areas known for their tourist frequentation”.
The alert, sent to smartphones by the authorities, must in practice provide information on the nature of the incident (these may be natural events, biological and chemical, health, technological and industrial hazards or even “serious” “of public security” or “act of a terrorist nature”, explains the Ministry of the Interior), the location of the danger or the attitude to adopt. “This message is therefore broadcast via telecommunications antennas in the form of radio waves, on a dedicated channel”, specifies the Ministry of the Interior. In other words: even if the mobile network is saturated, the notification arrives.