From July 1, 2025, cellular broadcasting has been introduced in Latvia – an effective and modern solution for warning the public in emergency situations. Cell broadcast complements existing information channels and will continue to serve as one of the early warning tools.
The introduction of cellular broadcasting was announced at a press conference at the Ministry of the Interior, attended by the Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis, the Head of the Information Center of the Ministry of the Interior Āris Dzērvāns, the Head of the State Fire and Rescue Service Colonel Mārtiņš Baltmanis, the Vice President for Technological Affairs of "Latvijas Mobilais Telefons" Gunārs Danbergs, the General Director of "Bite Latvija" Mindaugas Rakauskas and the Director of the Technical Department of "Tele2" Līga Krūmiņa.
Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis: “Cell broadcast, which operates in Latvia on the principle of radio broadcasting, is a new additional tool that will allow internal affairs services to promptly notify people of various types of threats or crisis situations - from natural disasters to military threats. This is an important element in the overall early warning system, alongside the already known and familiar notification methods, including alarm sirens, media announcements, social media, etc., and cellular broadcasting allows for much more precise targeting of information about the emergency situation to those people who are in the crisis-affected region, thus enabling more precise management of the crisis towards a solution. I am pleased with the very successful cooperation between the Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior and the State Fire and Rescue Service with all mobile operators operating in Latvia – their involvement in the cellular broadcasting system strengthens the role of mobile operators in the overall public security architecture.”
Cell broadcast notifications will be used to immediately warn residents in a specific area of potential threats, such as: hazardous weather conditions, flooding, chemical spills, dangerous persons, missing children, etc.
Cell broadcast provides the following types of early warning notifications:
- Red Alerts (Presidential Alerts)
- Orange Alerts (Extreme Alerts)
- Yellow Alerts (Severe Alerts)
- Missing Child Alerts
- End of Threat Alerts
- Exercise Alerts
It is important to note that cell broadcast notifications are not SMS messages. On mobile phones, early warning notifications will be displayed in a special format with a different sound signal, they cannot be modified or forwarded to other phones. These notifications will be different from regular text messages, emails, and social media posts because they are built in as a separate functionality.
Cell broadcast works similarly to radio – it does not provide feedback from the recipient and does not interfere with normal communication. Notifications are free and do not require prior registration or subscription. Notification is received when the mobile phone is within the coverage area of a specific mobile tower.
Notifications will be available on mobile phones operating on all mobile network generations. Mobile phones will receive notifications regardless of subscription if they are within the coverage area of mobile networks, including phones of tourists, migrant workers, students and other groups of the public visiting Latvia. Since cellular broadcasting technology has been operating in the world for many years, cellular broadcasting notifications can also be received on “button phones” if the manufacturer has provided such functionality.
Warning notices will be distributed in Latvian, and in some cases may be accompanied by an English translation. Receiving and displaying notifications on smartphones is provided by the developers of the respective operating system. Phone users should note that on Android devices, Notification titles will only be visible in Latvian if the device has the Latvian language user interface available and activated. A full Latvian language interface is currently not available on Apple devices, so Notification titles will be displayed in English or the user's chosen language.
Residents are encouraged to regularly update their phone's operating system to ensure correct and timely receipt of cell broadcast notifications.
The cost of the cell broadcasting implementation project was 3.4 million euros, of which 2.9 million euros were financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).