Before the

Federal Communications Commission

Washington, D.C. 20554

+----------------------------------+---+------------------------------+
| In the Matter of                 | ) |                              |
|                                  | \ |                              |
| MOTOROLA, INC.                   | ) |                              |
|                                  | \ |                              |
| Request for Waiver of Sections   | ) |                              |
| 90.425 and 90.647 of the         | \ |                              |
| Commission's Rules to Authorize  | ) |                              |
| Digital Transmission of Station  | \ |                              |
| Identification by Public Safety  | ) |                              |
| Licensees in the 700 MHz Band    | \ |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
|                                  | \ |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
|                                  | \ |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
+----------------------------------+---+------------------------------+

ORDER

**Adopted: October 20, 2005 Released: October 21, 2005**

By the Chief, Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division,
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau:

1.  *Introduction.* On June 6, 2005, Motorola, Inc. (Motorola) filed a
    request for waiver of certain Private Land Mobile Radio Service
    operating requirements.[^1] Specifically, Motorola seeks a waiver of
    Sections 90.425 and 90.647 of the Commission's Rules[^2] in order to
    allow Public Safety Pool licensees operating in 764-776/794-806 MHz
    (700 MHz) band to fulfill the Commission's station identification
    requirements by transmitting their call signs in the digital mode.
    For the reasons stated below, Motorola's Request is granted to the
    extent specified herein.

2.  *Background*. Generally, the Commission's rules require Public
    Safety Pool licensees to transmit their call signs at least every
    thirty minutes "by voice in the English language or by International
    Morse Code" on an analog signal.[^3] Section 90.647(c) allows 800
    MHz and 900 MHz stations \-- but not 700 MHz Public Safety stations
    -- to transmit their call signs digitally, provided they "are
    licensed on an exclusive basis, and normally employ digital signals
    . . . ."[^4] Licensees that identify themselves in this manner must
    provide the Commission, upon request, information sufficient to
    decode the digital transmission and ascertain the call signs
    transmitted.[^5] At the time that the Section 90.647 exception was
    adopted for the 800 and 900 MHz bands,[^6] the technically similar
    700 MHz band was still allocated for Television Channels 60-69.
    Subsequently, the 700 MHz band was reallocated for public safety and
    commercial use,[^7] but the Commission did not consider whether to
    allow a similar exception to the station identification rules for
    700 MHz licensees.[^8] As a result, exclusively licensed, digital
    700 MHz Public Safety stations currently must transmit station
    identifications using an analog signal, unlike their counterparts in
    the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands.

3.  Motorola, a radio equipment manufacturer, seeks a waiver of Sections
    90.425 and 90.647 of the Commission's Rules to permit 700 MHz Public
    Safety licensees to transmit call signs digitally, like similarly
    situated 800 and 900 MHz licensees. Section 90.425 generally
    requires that call signs be transmitted by voice or by Morse
    code.[^9] Section 90.647 provides an exception to this requirement:
    "Stations operating in either the 806-824/851-869 MHz or
    896-901/935-940 MHz bands that are licensed on an exclusive basis,
    and normally employ digital signals for the transmission of data,
    text, control codes, or digitized voice may also be identified by
    digital transmission of the call sign."[^10] By its terms, this
    exception does not include stations operating in the 700 MHz band.
    Motorola asserts that the current requirement for 700 MHz Public
    Safety licensees is inequitable because similarly situated 800 MHz
    and 900 MHz licensees are permitted to transmit their call signs
    digitally.[^11] Motorola also argues that requiring analog station
    identification is contrary to the public interest because it can
    disrupt digital operations; and because the requirement can increase
    the complexity and cost of 700 MHz equipment, which would have to be
    equipped with analog circuitry just to provide the voice or Morse
    Code identification require by Section 90.425.[^12]

4.  *Discussion.* We may grant a waiver request if the underlying
    purpose of the rule(s) would not be served or would be frustrated by
    application to the instant case, and a grant of the requested waiver
    would be in the public interest; or, in view of unique or unusual
    factual circumstances, application of the rule(s) would be
    inequitable, unduly burdensome or contrary to the public interest,
    or the applicant has no reasonable alternative.[^13] For the reasons
    set forth below, we conclude that the application of our rules so as
    to prohibit digital transmission of call signs by 700 MHz Public
    Safety licensees does not serve the purpose of the rules, and would
    be inequitable and unduly burdensome. We also conclude that grant of
    the requested waiver is in the public interest. Accordingly, we
    grant Motorola's Request to the extent indicated below.

5.  The rationale for allowing digital station identification in the 800
    MHz and 900 MHz is equally applicable to licensees in the 700 MHz
    Public Safety band that normally employ digital signals and whose
    licenses are exclusive. The Commission recognized that requiring a
    digital station to broadcast analog station identification every
    thirty minutes would be disruptive.[^14] Additionally, because
    exclusively licensed stations are substantially less likely,
    compared to stations licensed on a shared basis, to cause co-channel
    interference, there is less need for the Commission to be able to
    monitor for such stations' transmissions.[^15] Moreover, at the time
    our existing rule allowing digital transmission of call signs in the
    800 MHz and 900 MHz band was adopted, the Commission did not
    contemplate including Public Safety licensees in the 700 MHz band in
    the exception because such licensees did not then exist. Today,
    however, Public Safety licensees in the 700 MHz band can be licensed
    exclusively and operate digitally, like Public Safety licensees in
    the 800 and 900 MHz bands. Because the rationale for permitting
    licensees in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands to identify their
    stations by digital means also applies to Public Safety licensees in
    the 700 MHz Public band, granting a waiver will serve the purpose of
    the rule. In addition, requiring 700 MHz Public Safety licensees to
    transmit station identification by analog signal only is
    inequitable, given that technically similar licensees in the 800 MHz
    and 900 MHz bands face no such requirement.

6.  Requiring analog transmission by Public Safety licensees in the 700
    MHz band also would be unduly burdensome and contrary to the public
    interest, because it could have disruptive effects on critical
    public safety communication systems. The Commission has already
    recognized the potential disruptive effects of requiring an analog
    transmission every thirty minutes on a channel normally used for
    digital signals.[^16] An analog transmission requirement is as
    potentially disruptive to Public Safety licensees in the 700 MHz
    band as it is to licensees in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands.
    Further, requiring analog transmission of station identification by
    Public Safety licensees in the 700 MHz band could increase equipment
    costs for these Public Safety licensees. Requiring Public Safety
    licensees to expend their limited resources on equipment
    functionality that will not contribute to their important missions
    is not in the public interest.

7.  *Conclusion and Ordering Clauses.* For the reasons stated above, we
    conclude that application to 700 MHz Public Safety Pool licensees of
    our rule requiring analog transmission of station identification
    does not serve the purpose of the rule, and would be inequitable,
    unduly burdensome, and contrary to the public interest. Accordingly,
    we grant the waiver requested by Motorola. Further, we see no need
    to make the waiver manufacturer-specific; this waiver relief
    therefore applies to all manufacturers of digital equipment in the
    700 MHz public safety band and to all public safety licensees using
    the band. Accordingly, we grant a waiver permitting Public Safety
    licensees in the 700 MHz band to transmit station identification
    digitally, subject to the following conditions:

> \--The licensee must be licensed on an exclusive basis, and normally
> employ digital signals for the transmission of data, text, control
> codes, or digitized voice.
>
> \--The licensee must provide the Commission, upon its request,
> information sufficient to decode the digital transmission and
> ascertain the call sign transmitted.

\--This waiver is granted subject to the Commission's decisions in WT
Docket No. 96-86, and shall terminate upon the effective date of the
rules promulgated in that proceeding.

8.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections 4(f) and 4(i)
    of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 154(f),
    154(i), and Section 1.925 of the Commission\'s Rules, 47 C.F.R. §
    1.925, the Request for Waiver filed by Motorola, Inc. on June 6,
    2005, IS GRANTED to the extent indicated above.

9.  This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections
    0.131 and 0.331 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.131,
    0.331.

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Michael J. Wilhelm

Chief, Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau

[^1]: Motorola, Inc. Request for Waiver (filed June 6, 2005) (Request).

[^2]: 47 C.F.R. §§ 90.425, 90.647.

[^3]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 90.425(a).

[^4]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 90.647(c).

[^5]: *Id*.

[^6]: *See* Amendment of Parts 2 and 90 of the Commission's Rules to
    Provide for the Use of 200 Channels Outside the Designated Filing
    Areas in the 896-901 MHz and 935-940 MHz Bands Allotted to the
    Specialized Mobile Radio Pool, *First Report and Order and Further
    Notice of Proposed Rule Making*, PR Docket No. 89-553, 8 FCC Rcd
    1469, 1481 ¶¶ 48-49 (1993) (*Phase II Order*).

[^7]: *See* Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Pub. L. No. 105-33, § 3004, 111
    Stat. 251, 268; *see also* Reallocation of Television Channels
    60-69, the 746-806 MHz Band, *Report and Order*, ET Docket No.
    97-157, 12 FCC Rcd 22953 (1997).

[^8]: We note that the Commission recently sought comment on a proposal
    to apply to the 700 MHz band the rule regarding station
    identification in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands. *See* The
    Development of Operational, Technical, and Spectrum Requirements for
    Meeting Federal, State and Local Public Safety Communications
    Requirements for Meeting Federal, State, and Local Public Safety
    Communications Requirements Through the Year 2010, *Fifth Memorandum
    Opinion and Order, Sixth Report and Order, and Seventh Notice of
    Proposed Rulemaking,* WT Docket No. 96-86, 20 FCC Rcd 831, 849 ¶ 41
    (2005).

[^9]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 90.425(a); *see also* 47 C.F.R. § 90.647(b).

[^10]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 90.647(c). Licensees identifying their stations
    in this manner must provide the Commission, upon request, sufficient
    information to decode the digital transmission and ascertain the
    call sign transmitted. *Id.*

[^11]: Request at 3.

[^12]: *Id.* at 4.

[^13]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 1.925(b)(3).

[^14]: *See Phase II Order,* 8 FCC Rcd at 1481 ¶ 49.

[^15]: *Id*.

[^16]: *Id*.