Thailand's cell broadcast (CB) emergency warning system is expected to be ready for deployment in six months to one year, according to Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Prasert Chantararuangthong.
Speaking after talks with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission on the system's implementation, Mr Prasert said the NBTC will coordinate with mobile phone service providers to deploy the CB alert system.
He said the CB system's development and testing will take six months to one year to complete.
The plan to establish an effective public warning system followed the shooting in the Siam Paragon shopping mall that left two people dead and five others injured on Tuesday.
The use of CB technology is being proposed because it allows emergency warnings to be sent to all devices connected to mobile networks in a specific target area.
Mr Prasert said emergency warnings sent via location-based service (LBS) were also tested on Thursday by teams from Advanced Info Service (AIS) and True Corporation in Government House but the LBS alert system took time to process.
The DES minister said he would propose the setting up of a national warning centre to inform the public of emergency situations, adding Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin will decide which agency will take charge of the proposed body.
Trairat Viriyasirikul, deputy secretary-general of the NBTC, said the CB warning system will be submitted to the NBTC board for consideration as soon as possible.
Wasit Wattanasap, head of AIS's nationwide operations and support business unit, said that by using the LBS system, an SMS is sent to mobile phones in a location.
When the team AIS team is notified by the command centre, the centre determines the coverage of cell sites in the area and sends an SMS notification to mobile phones in near real-time, Mr Wasit said.
When a phone user accesses the notification, he or she is taken to a message containing information relevant to an incident, including hotlines and safety tips, he said.