The national Emergency Alert telephone warning system will be improved after the Victorian Government contracted Telstra Corporation to accommodate mobile phones in disaster areas.

Warnings will be sent to mobile phones that are physically in the an emergency zone when a disaster strikes through the location based telephone emergency warning system.

Federal Minister for Emergency Management, Robert McClelland said the current Emergency Alert system provides warnings to landlines and mobile phones based on the customer’s registered service address.

Mr McClelland said it is public safety technology with no national or international precedent that will help emergency services across the nation to warn communities about life-threatening emergencies.

The current Emergency Alert system was introduced in 2009, which was used more than 300 times with over seven million warning messages sent nationally during disasters, Mr McClelland said.

Acting Victorian Premier, Peter Ryan said the state government led negotiations with telecommunications carriers on behalf of all states and territories.

According to Mr Ryan, negotiations are continuing with Optus and Vodafone.

“Telstra’s commitment is a major step forward in the development of a national system and it means that location-based warnings will be delivered on Australia’s largest network,” Mr Ryan said.

Mr Ryan said communities need to also check radio and the emergency services website to stay aware of the conditions and should not rely solely on receiving a telephone warning, which “would not be used in all circumstances”.

According to the Victorian Government, the ‘location based solution’ will be operational across Australia by November 2012.