After mass reports from citizens that they did not receive a message from BG-Alert yesterday, today the Ministry of the Interior announced that the testing of the hazard notification system was successful.
According to Nikolay Nikolov, advisor to the Minister of the Interior, 98% of people received the message. But it didn’t reach everyone because it needed a special setup for the test. The department also states that in case of real danger, such a setting is not necessary.
“The test check was successful, 98% of all mobile operators’ cells were activated. We are given a choice as citizens whether to participate in this test or not. The message was not sent through that channel, which is used in case of real danger,” explained Nikolov.
Dali Nikolov, a.k.a. adviser to a minister, the distinction between “98% of people received the message” and “98% of all mobile operators’ cells were activated” remains absolutely unclear.
It is also unclear what the Ministry of Internal Affairs is satisfied with.
A few months ago, everyone received a message because it was the danger notification channel that was used. But yesterday’s case was not like that. “It is no coincidence that ten days earlier we started saying that this is a test of the system, not a test of the citizens and their reactions.” This is what Nikolov added regarding the reports of citizens that they did not receive the message.
The minister’s advisor also explained that a repeat test is possible, but only after a detailed analysis of yesterday’s test is done.
Initially, testing of the National Early Warning and Disclosure System and the BG-Alert system was planned for October 1. Due to the situation in the Middle East and in order to avoid additional tension among the citizens, it was postponed until yesterday.
The way the system works was criticized during the big fire in the Yambol village of Voden in July. As well as – in the explosions of the fireworks factory in Elin Pelin. Regarding this, Nikolov explained that during the explosions in Elin Pelin there was a certain misunderstanding between the interior minister and the chain down. And in the case of the fire in Voden, the local authority was not convinced that it had coverage. In addition, everything happened very quickly.
After receiving signals from citizens about the not received message on October 17, from the General Directorate “Fire Safety and Protection of the Population”
yesterday they explained that the test was successful. And that the system and equipment of the mobile operators are functioning as expected.
From there, they also explained what conditions need to be met to receive test messages:
• device compatibility with Cell Broadcast technology;
• minimum compatible version of the operating system on devices with iOs 16.6;
• the device to be included in the message distribution period;
• do not have “airplane mode” activated;
• to be located in a territory with available coverage from the network of the mobile operator used;
• be with an activated test channel.
The BGPBZN also indicated that the Cell Broadcast technology for distributing messages from the BG-Alert system works one-way and there is no feedback on how many devices and users it has reached.
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