Cell Broadcast, or mobile network-based emergency alerts, is an application-independent warning system that appears across the entire phone screen in case of danger.

In August last year, the government allocated €3.67 million to the project and tasked the Rescue Board with developing the system in Estonia.

Argo Kerb, head of emergency notification and communications at the Rescue Board, said most of the preparatory work has been done.

"We are now in a position where in the coming weeks we will sign contracts and move into development," he said.

The Rescue Board hopes to have the initial emergency alert capability ready by autumn this year.

"Smart devices will only be able to start receiving these alerts once operating system developers — Apple and Google — have, through their software updates, granted permission for Estonian mobile operators to send such messages, and equally importantly, that our people have downloaded these updates," Kerb said.

However, the current SMS and app alert systems will not disappear.

Katerina Mudarissova, adviser on population protection at the Ministry of the Interior, said the network is being developed to complement the existing system.

"SMS messages will remain, and they are important precisely because there are still button phones in Estonia, especially among older people, and every emergency alert must reach every person in Estonia. We will definitely continue developing and improving, and SMS will certainly remain — it will not disappear in Estonia," she said.

The Rescue Boards said during the recent wave of emergency alerts, around 3-5 percent of people did not receive any message, and in reality, no country achieves full coverage. Telia sent out approximately 600 messages per second this time. Thirty people contacted them to receive additional information and assistance.

"The content of the inquiries in those few cases was mainly related to the fact that the SMS message was not received, and there were various reasons. In some cases, the cause was technical issues related to the phone; in some cases, the message had gone to a so-called spam folder. We recommend that people move those messages to their regular inbox, and then in the future they should arrive in the correct place," said Evelin Neerot, head of connectivity services at Telia.

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