Cell Broadcast system tested with ‘Extremely Severe Alert’ in Hyderabad

Department of Telecommunication launched a new Cell Broadcasting system to alert people during emergencies, with the coordination of NDMA.

Hyderabad: Citizens in Hyderabad received an ‘Extremely Severe Alert’ message as part of the nationwide test of SACHET (Secure & Advanced Cell-based High-speed Emergency Transmission), the new Cell Broadcasting (CB) system, launched by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in coordination with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

People reported receiving full-screen notifications along with a loud alarm sound. The message, in English and Telugu, informed people that India had launched its own public alerting framework and that no action was required from the public. The broadcast, unlike normal SMS messages, is sent to all mobile phones in a specific geographical location.

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Posting on X, the DoT, said, “A step forward in strengthening how we communicate during critical situations.” The tweet also said that the initiative reflected a continued commitment to building a more responsive and resilient communication ecosystem for citizens.
The new indigenous Cell Broadcasting system will be used to alert people on the occasion of emergencies such as cyclones, earthquakes, and tsunamis, or man-made disasters like chemical hazards, or wars.

SACHET was developed by the Center for Development Of Telematics (C-DOT) under the DoT as a low-cost solution to broadcast multilingual, geo-targeted alerts about emergencies to millions of mobile phones.

Several users, through social media, shared that the alert scared them, while several other users asked people not to panic as it was only a test.The NDMA had earlier launched the SACHET app and web portal to provide real-time, location-specific details for natural disasters, and the Cell Broadcasting system has also been integrated into it.

– By Harikrishnan R