The federal government has selected a company to build a new $15 million national warning system that will send text alerts to the mobile phones of residents threatened by bushfires.

Telstra will deliver the National Emergency Warning System (NEWS). In the event of a disaster such as Black Saturday, the system will be used to deliver recorded voice warnings to landlines and text messages to mobiles based on people's billing addresses.

It's hoped the system, which will be able to send at least 100,000 messages at a time, will be in use by the end of November in all states except Western Australia, which has its own State Alert system.

"This system will provide emergency service authorities with another way to warn communities in the event of an emergency and in Victoria will complement the actions our government is taking to better protect Victorians from bushfires,'' said Victoria's Police and Emergency Services Minister, Bob Cameron.

"Experts predict this fire season could be potentially worse than the season we've just experienced and Victoria led the delivery of the new national-based system because we wanted a system in place for this fire season that could alert communities in the event of a life-threatening emergency.''

Tender documents for the warning system say it could also be used during disease epidemics, sieges, cyclones, terrorist attacks, locust plagues and heat or smog alerts.

"The system will alert communities to emergencies via a recorded voice message on telephones and a text message on mobiles based on the subscribers' billing address,'' Mr Cameron said. In addition to warning people, the technology could also one day be used to help locate survivors in the aftermath of a fire.

The Victorian government, in partnership with the commonwealth , is exploring the possibility of using the system to deliver warnings to mobile phones based on the physical location of a handset at the time of the emergency.

The possibility of enhancing the system so it can use location-based technology to track citizens in times of emergency has led civil liberties groups to warn of a need for tight privacy guidelines, but the government said it has already moved to assuage such concerns.

Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin said legislative amendments had been made to impose controls against potential misuse of sensitive personal information.

"States and Territories will use the warning system when appropriate and will determine which geographic area to warn, when to warn and at what time the warning is sent. At no stage will States or Territories have access to the customer name details of the telephone number,'' Mr Esplin said.

"This arrangement between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories works to safeguard the public's personal privacy and their personal safety in potential emergency situations.'' Following the Council of Australian Governments decision in April to develop the system, it was agreed that Victoria would lead the procurement and implementation process. Up to $15 million has been allocated to the project.