A six-year-old privately-held firm on Friday challenged the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's proposed use of commercial text messaging to deliver emergency alerts to cell phone users in crisis situations.

CellCast Technologies, a Houston-based firm that specializes in cell network broadcast technology, said that SMS used in emergency situations is insecure and will quickly clog the cell networks causing critical delays.

CellCast's emergency alert system, which is currently deployed in Wisconsin by Einstein Wireless, uses a single broadcast channel within the cell network to send text messages to hundreds or more cell phone users in harm's way.

Commercial text messaging on the other hand uses more of the network's bandwidth because it employs the person-to-person communications link used for voice communications.

"Our system is like a latter day version of a siren alerting everyone in the vicinity of danger," said Paul Klein COO of CellCast. "Cell broadcast does not clog the network, which occurred with text messages during college-campus shootings and the Minneapolis bridge collapse."

In times of emergency cell phone traffic can overload the networks causing breakdowns or delayed messages that arrive long after the emergency is over.

The FCC late Wednesday introduced the Commercial Mobile Alert System which if and when it becomes operational will send text-based alerts to subscribers in emergency situations. (see Feds Aim to Send Emergency Text Messages)

The FCC does not specify SMS as the preferred means of transmitting emergency mobile alerts, but Mr. Klein believes that because of its shortcomings SMS should be removed from consideration.

"SMS has been the most profitable thing to hit the wireless business but the problem is is it is not secure," he said. "Someone can crack a campus SMS database and send a bogus alert and no one would be able to tell if it's real or not."

According to Mr. Klein, carriers have a major investment in SMS as a standard for mobile alert systems since many of them have sold expensive SMS alert notification systems to colleges across the country.

And a committee authorized by the FCC to make recommendations on standards for the mobile alert system left a lot of crucial questions unanswered, he said.

CellCast has submitted its comments to the FCC in reaction to the Commission's recent report.