UK Phone alert: guess who was paid for it…
(media.greatawakening.win)
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The photo is of Rishi Sunak, the P.M. of U.K. Here is an article that disputes the claim:
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/infosys-emergency-alert-test-twitter-rishi-sunak-wife-family-firm-debunked-2296742
From the article:
How is Rishi Sunak connected to Infosys? Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty is the daughter of N R Narayana Murthy, an Indian businessman and billionaire who helped found the information technology company Infosys.
The multinational firm, set up in 1981, employs more than 340,000 people worldwide and had an annual revenue of $19 billion as of March 2023.
Ms. Murty has a 0.93 per cent stake in the tech firm which is estimated to be worth approximately £690m.
Mr. Sunak’s family links to Infosys have previously led to criticism due to its close proximity to a trade agreement agreed when he was chancellor.
Is Infosys involved in the UK’s emergency alerts system? There is no evidence to suggest that Infosys has any direct involvement in the UK’s emergency alert system, which was tested across the country over the weekend. Officials say claims circulating online have no basis in reality.
A Government spokesperson told i of the viral claims: “This is completely untrue – there are no connections with Infosys in the running of the emergency alerts system.”
A spokesperson for Infosys said: “Infosys has not been involved, directly or indirectly, in the creation of the UK government emergency alert system.”
The alert test was run in co-ordination with the major mobile networks using software from US firm Everbridge – with alert messaging composed on the GOV.UK Notify system developed by the Cabinet Office.
Fujitsu was handed a pubicly-declared contract worth up to £1.6m in October 2022 to oversee the technical delivery and operational support for the alerts system, with a maximum possible value of £5m subject to approval.
Officials pointed i to a statement made in Parliament by Cabinet Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe explaining the “small amount of work” done by Fujitsu in connection with the alert system. She said: “Fujitsu has had a small role in the development of the UK’s emergency alert system, initially providing a subject matter expert to support early development by DCMS [Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport].”
Infosys and Fujitsu have previously worked together, as suggested in the 2003 press release shared by some Twitter users – but they are separate companies and there is no evidence whatsoever that Infosys has any involvement in the alerts contract – which is minuscule compared to the size of other Government technology contracts that the firms have involvement in internationally.
Some Twitter users have cited testimonials on the Infosys website relating to the development of an emergency alert system – but this relates to a 2009 project in Australia, which saw it enter a five-year partnership with mobile provider Telstra, during which it helped to develop Australia’s alert system.
There is no evidence that Fujitsu or Infosys are currently partnered on any projects.
Also, I don't see how a "phone alert yesterday" cost millions of pounds. Maybe setting up the entire system that was tested that day cost that much, but this seems either badly worded at best, or deliberate disinfo at worst.
Yes to the idea of the cost to set up the system. And yes, I doubt it cost "millions" to send the message.
UK population = 67M. Assume 3/4 of those people have mobiles, and stop down to 1/2 to be conservative. 33.5M. Cost to deliver 1 SMS message is probably ~£0.01/message.
33.5M x £0.01 = £335k.
Yesterday I heard on a podcast to which I subscribe that this solution uses CB, Cell Broadcast. Sounds reasonable. If that is the case, no incremental fees to stage and send texts.