Gone is GouvAlert, replaced by the new “LU-Alert” application, the new public alert and information system, presented on Thursday 17 October by home affairs minister  (CSV). “The new national warning and information system is an efficient, multi-channel and modern system, equipped with new accessible technologies, including cell broadcast (CB) and location-based SMS (LB-SMS),” he said.

The rollout of the new information and alert system will be accompanied by a week of tests, starting on Thursday 17 October and running until 25 October, “to check the system’s technical functionality in real-life conditions. The test messages will be clearly identified as such. As these are test alerts, you do not need to take any action or adopt any particular behaviour,” the minister emphasised. An alert was sent out this Thursday morning. The monthly tests carried out to date will also be maintained.

Geolocalised text messages

On the Google Play Store, the now defunct GouvAlert application--launched in 2018 and now deactivated--shows “more than 10,000 downloads,” out of a target population of several hundred thousand people, taking into account residents and cross-border commuters. One of the reasons why the application has been replaced is that “it is a more modern application that can be customised by users. They will be able to choose which categories or alert levels they want to be alerted or informed about, and enter places of interest (their place of residence, their children’s school, etc.). The GouvAlert mobile application did not allow for such personalisation,” replied the home affairs ministry when questioned by Paperjam.

In previous tests, a certain delay was noted between users receiving the alert. “Location-based SMS use a sending and receiving technology similar to that used for sending and receiving conventional text messages. As a result, there may be a certain delay between the sending of the location-based SMS by the mobile network operators and its reception by the user, particularly when a large number of location-based SMS messages need to be sent. This is a factor inherent in the sms technology itself. However, the LU-Alert system also includes messages transmitted by cell broadcast. This technology, new to Luxembourg, enables instant reception. In principle, there is no delay between the message being sent and its receipt by the user,” adds the ministry.

A new website

“However, anyone in the area to be alerted who is connected to a mobile phone base station belonging to a Luxembourg mobile network operator at the time the message is sent will, in principle, receive the alert and information message. This applies to both location-based SMS and cell broadcast. For the latter, it should be noted that only mobile devices compatible with cellular broadcasting will receive the messages transmitted by this means.”

The new LU-Alert system--set up by the French company Intersec, in collaboration with the ministry and the Government IT Centre (CTIE), just like the previous system--benefits from a central core, an electronic platform that will be used by all the public authorities involved in the project. Harmonisation and consistency are therefore the watchwords of the new system. “It is vital that the people alerted understand the messages transmitted and that they have confidence in the sender,” insists Gloden.

“LU-Alert” includes a new website, where all the system’s alert and information messages can be consulted, enabling the public to check that they have not received a fraudulent message.

This article was originally published in .