Before the

Federal Communications Commission

Washington, D.C. 20554

+----------------------------------+---+------------------------------+
| In the Matter of                 | ) |                              |
|                                  | \ |                              |
| GARMIN INTERNATIONAL, INC.       | ) |                              |
|                                  | \ |                              |
| Request for Waiver of Sections   | ) |                              |
| 95.29(f)(1), 95.119(a)(1),       | \ |                              |
| 95.181(a), 95.183(a)(4), and     | ) |                              |
| 95.631(a) and (f) of the         | \ |                              |
| Commission's Rules to Authorize  | ) |                              |
| Manufacture, Sale, and Use of    | \ |                              |
| GPS Transmission Enhanced GMRS   | ) |                              |
| Units                            | \ |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
|                                  | \ |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
|                                  |   |                              |
|                                  | ) |                              |
+----------------------------------+---+------------------------------+

ORDER

**Adopted: December 28, 2006 Released: December 29, 2006**

By the Deputy Chief, Mobility Division, Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau:

# introduction

1.  In this *Order*, we consider a request to extend a waiver of the
    General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) rules permitting Garmin
    International, Inc. (Garmin) to market GMRS transceivers with the
    capability of transmitting Global Positioning System (GPS)
    coordinates as non-voice data. On October 27, 2004, the Public
    Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division, Wireless
    Telecommunications Bureau (Division)[^1] granted Garmin a two-year
    conditional waiver of Sections 95.29(f)(1), 95.119(a)(1), 95.181(a),
    95.183(a)(4), and 95.631(a) and (f) of the Commission's Rules.[^2]
    On April 6, 2006, Garmin requested an extension of this waiver.[^3]
    For the reasons stated below, we grant Garmin's 2006 Extension
    Petition.

# BACKGROUND

2.  The Commission adopted rules establishing the future GMRS over fifty
    years ago as a short-distance two-way land mobile radio service
    available for communications that facilitate personal or business
    activities of licensees and their immediate family members.[^4] In
    1988, the Commission amended the GMRS rules to provide flexibility
    to the individual user and limit eligibility for new GMRS licenses
    to individuals.[^5] In 1996, the Commission established the Family
    Radio Service (FRS) as a very short range, two-way voice personal
    radio service that provides an affordable and convenient means of
    communications among small groups of persons, including families,
    with minimal regulation.[^6] The FRS shares seven frequencies in the
    462 MHz band with the GMRS and has seven channels that are offset
    from GMRS channels in the 467 MHz band.[^7]

3.  In 2000, Garmin, a designer and manufacturer of consumer electronic
    devices, requested a waiver of the FRS rules to allow it to
    manufacture standard FRS voice communication radios incorporating an
    enhancement that would permit transmission of GPS location
    information.[^8] On September 29, 2000, the Public Safety and
    Private Wireless Division (former Division)[^9] granted Garmin a
    partial waiver of Sections 95.193(b) and 95.631(d) of the
    Commission\'s Rules to allow it to manufacture and market
    transceivers capable of transmitting GPS location information on FRS
    channels.[^10] Under its waiver grant, the former Division permitted
    Garmin to receive FCC certification of a FRS unit that would permit
    users to transmit GPS location information using emission type F2D
    in a digital data burst of not more than one second.[^11] Later that
    year, Garmin filed a petition for rulemaking seeking to amend the
    Commission's Rules essentially to codify the terms of the
    waiver.[^12]

4.  In 2003, the Commission amended its rules to permit FRS transceivers
    to transmit GPS location information (including automatic responses
    to interrogation \-- polling \-- from other units) and
    user-generated text messages.[^13] On May 15, 2003, Garmin requested
    a waiver of Sections 95.29(f)(1), 95.119(a)(1), 95.181(a),
    95.183(a)(4), and 95.631(a) and (f) of the Commission's Rules.[^14]
    Garmin sought a waiver of these rules in order to receive FCC
    certification for a GMRS transceiver that is capable of transmitting
    F2D emissions to transmit location information derived from the GPS,
    and user-generated text messages.[^15] Garmin argued that granting
    the waiver would allow it to extend to GMRS licensees the public
    safety benefits of the location positioning technology that FRS
    users enjoy.[^16] Similar to the FRS radios that Garmin
    manufactures, the proposed units would allow GMRS users to transmit
    text or location data to other GMRS users by manual action or
    command, and would automatically transmit GPS-derived location data
    when polled by another unit, with the location of the transmitting
    unit displayed on the map of the receiving unit.[^17]

5.  On July 22, 2003, Garmin filed a petition for rulemaking seeking to
    modify the GMRS rules to mirror the FRS rules adopted by the
    Commission earlier in the year.[^18] On October 27, 2004, the
    Division granted Garmin a two-year waiver to manufacture and market
    GMRS transceivers capable of transmitting GPS location information
    on GMRS channels, subject to all of the conditions for transmitting
    location data and text in the FRS.[^19] In effect, the Division
    extended to GMRS licensees the public safety benefits of the
    location positioning technology that is available to FRS users.[^20]
    In the instant petition, Garmin seeks an extension of the relief
    afforded in the *2004* *Garmin Order* for an additional two years
    pending resolution of the Garmin 2003 Petition for Rulemaking.[^21]
    Garmin asserts that granting the extension would provide authority
    for Garmin to continue marketing equipment that has saved, and will
    continue to save, lives.[^22] Moreover, Garmin alleges that due to
    the efficiency of its non-voice data transmissions, it has not
    received any reports of harmful interference from the operation of
    its equipment.[^23]

# DISCUSSION

6.  As the Division stated in the *2004 Garmin Order*, application of
    the rules to the instant case would frustrate the underlying purpose
    of the GMRS rules, and a waiver is in the public interest.[^24]
    Although Garmin's technology did not exist at the time the
    Commission substantially revised the GMRS rules in 1988, we note
    that the Commission did intend GMRS to be a flexible, efficient and
    effective personal communications service.[^25] The Commission
    limited eligibility for new GMRS system licenses to individuals to
    focus the use of the limited number of GMRS channels towards the
    needs of the personal user.[^26] The Commission's stated goal was to
    "enhance the GMRS for the personal user."[^27] Therefore, consistent
    with the Commission's goals and intentions, and as requested by
    Garmin, the Commission is considering broadening the scope of the
    GMRS rules in a manner that would encompass location technology and
    text messaging.[^28] We continue to believe there is potential
    benefit in doing so. For example, Garmin has persuaded us that
    personal safety could be enhanced if GMRS users could ascertain the
    location of GMRS-equipped family or group members. Granting the
    extension of the waiver will serve the underlying purpose of the
    GMRS Rules to be a flexible, efficient and effective personal
    communications service. Accordingly, we conclude that the public
    interest factors raised by Garmin merit extension of the initial
    waiver, under terms and conditions thereof, pending resolution of
    the 2003 Petition for Rulemaking.

    **IV. CONCLUSION AND ORDERING CLAUSES**

7.  Garmin has satisfied the Commission's waiver criteria thus
    warranting an extension of the 2003 Waiver Request for two years
    from the release date hereof, and subject to the conditions of the
    initial waiver. Accordingly, we grant a two-year extension of the
    waiver permitting Garmin to manufacture and market GMRS transceivers
    capable of transmitting GPS location information on GMRS channels,
    subject to all of the conditions for transmitting location data and
    text in the FRS[^29] and the following additional conditions and
    requirements:

\--Garmin must design the units it proposes to manufacture such that the
mobile units capable of transmitting text and GPS location data have
integrated (*i.e*., non-detachable) antennas.

\--Garmin must design the units it proposes to manufacture such that
transmission of text and GPS location data is limited to 462 MHz GMRS
channels, as specified in Section 95.29(a) and (f); which channels are
not repeater input frequencies.

\--Garmin must design the units it proposes to manufacture such that
transmission of text and GPS location data is limited to an authorized
bandwidth of no more than 12.5 kHz.

\-- Garmin must design the units it proposes to manufacture such that a
unit cannot automatically (*i.e.*, without manual action or command)
poll other units to determine their location based on GPS-derived
location information.

\--Grant of this waiver is subject to the resolution of Garmin's pending
petition for rulemaking, RM-10762.

\--We may immediately terminate the waiver if harmful interference[^30]
is reported to the Commission.

8.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that pursuant to Section 4(i) of the
    Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 154(i), and
    Section 1.925 of the Commission\'s Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.925, Garmin
    International, Inc.'s request for extension of the waiver filed on
    April 6, 2004, IS GRANTED, and the waiver granted to Garmin
    International, Inc. on October 27, 2004 IS EXTENDED for two years
    from the release date of this *Order*, under the same terms and
    conditions as the initial waiver.

9.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that pursuant to Section 4(i) of the
    Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 154(i), and
    Section 1.8 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.8, the Request
    for Withdrawal of Petition for Extension of Waiver filed on April 4,
    2006 IS GRANTED.

10. 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

Scot Stone

Deputy Chief, Mobility Division

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau

[^1]: Pursuant to a Commission reorganization effective September 25,
    2006, certain duties of the Public Safety and Critical
    Infrastructure Division were assumed by the Mobility Division. *See*
    Establishment of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau,
    *Order*, 21 FCC Rcd 10867 (2006).

[^2]: *See* Garmin International, Inc., *Order*, 20 FCC Rcd 982 (WTB
    PSCID 2004) (*2004 Garmin Order*). The Division granted Garmin a
    waiver of the GMRS rules that (1) require the transmission of
    station identification information following every communication or
    series of communications, (2) allow the transmission of voice type
    emissions only, (3) relate to permissible GMRS communications, (3)
    limit the types of emissions and data a GMRS transmitter may
    transmit, and (4) prohibit coded messages. *Id*.; *see* *also* 47
    C.F.R. §§ 95.29(f)(1), 95.119(a)(1), 95.181(a), 95.183(a)(4),
    95.631(a) and (f).

[^3]: Petition for Extension of Waiver filed by Garmin International,
    Inc. on Apr. 6, 2006 (2006 Extension Petition). *See also* Letter
    from David E. Hilliard, Counsel for Garmin International, Inc. to
    Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, Federal Communications Commission
    (withdrawing Petition for Extension of Waiver filed on April 4, 2006
    and substituting the 2006 Extension Petition). *See* Petition for
    Extension of Waiver filed by Garmin International, Inc. on Apr. 4,
    2006.

[^4]: GMRS began as the Class A Service in the Citizens Radio Service in
    1949. Creation of an Additional Personal Radio Service, *Notice of
    Inquiry*, PR Docket 79-140, 72 F.C.C.2d 453, 454 ¶ 3 (1979);
    Creation of a New Class of Citizens Radio Service and the
    Reallocation of Frequencies between 224 MHz and 225 MHz in the Band
    220-225 MHz now Allocated for Shared Use by Stations in the Amateur
    Radio Service and Government Radiolocation Stations for that
    Purpose, *Notice of Inquiry and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking*,
    Docket No. 19759, 41 F.C.C.2d 147, 149 ¶ 6 (1973). In 1976, the
    Commission redesignated the Citizens Radio Service as the Personal
    Radio Services and redesignated the Class A Service as the GMRS.
    Revision of Operating Rules for Class D Stations in the Citizens
    Radio Service, Docket 20120, *Third Report and Order*, 63 F.C.C.2d
    32, 32-33 ¶ 4 (1976); *see also* Amendment of Subparts A and E of
    Part 95 to Improve the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS), *Report
    and Order*, PR Docket No. 87-265, 3 FCC Rcd 6554, 6554 ¶ 3 (1988)
    (*GMRS R&O*); 47 C.F.R. §§ 95.1(a), 95.181.

[^5]: *GMRS R&O*, 3 FCC Rcd at 6554 ¶ 1.

[^6]: *See* Amendment of Part 95 of the Commission's Rules to Establish
    a Very Short Distance Two-way Voice Radio Service, *Report and
    Order*, WT Docket No. 95-102, 11 FCC Rcd 12977, 12977 ¶ 2, 12983 ¶
    17, 12984 ¶ 19 (1996).

[^7]: Specifically, FRS channels 1-7 are also GMRS frequencies and FRS
    channels 8-14 are offset from GMRS frequencies. *Compare* 47 C.F.R.
    § 95.621 (GMRS frequencies) *with* 47 C.F.R. § 95.627 (FRS
    frequencies).

[^8]: Garmin International, Inc., *Order*, 15 FCC Rcd 19143, 19145 ¶ 5
    n.21 (WTB PSPWD 2000) (*2000 Garmin Order*) *citing* Letter from
    Garmin International, Inc. to D\'wana Terry, Chief, Public Safety
    and Private Wireless Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau,
    Federal Communications Commission (dated Aug. 28, 2000).

[^9]: The Commission reorganized the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
    effective November 13, 2003, and the relevant duties of the Public
    Safety and Private Wireless Division were assumed by the Public
    Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division (Division). *See*
    Reorganization of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, *Order*,
    18 FCC Rcd 25414, 25414 ¶ 2 (2003).

[^10]: *2000 Garmin* *Order*, 15 FCC Rcd at 19147 ¶¶ 10-11.

[^11]: *Id.* at 19147-48 ¶ 10.

[^12]: *See* Garmin International, Inc., Petition for Rulemaking, RM
    10070 (filed Dec. 26, 2000). The Commission sought comment on
    Garmin's Petition for Rulemaking in 2001. *See* Garmin
    International, Inc., Amendment of Sections 95.193(a) and 95.631(d)
    to Authorize Manufacture, Sale and Use of GPS Transmission Enhanced
    Family Radio Service Units, and Amendment of Sections 95.193(a),
    95.193(b), and 95.631(d) of the Commission's Rules in the Family
    Radio Service, *Notice of Proposed Rulemaking*, WT Docket No.
    01-339, 16 FCC Rcd 22876 (2001).

[^13]: Garmin International, Inc., Amendment of Sections 95.193(a) and
    95.631(d) to Authorize Manufacture, Sale and Use of GPS Transmission
    Enhanced Family Radio Service Units, and Amendment of Sections
    95.193(a), 95.193(b), and 95.631(d) of the Commission's Rules in the
    Family Radio Service, *Report and Order*, WT Docket No. 01-339, 18
    FCC Rcd 2349 (2003).

[^14]: *See* Letter from Garmin International, Inc. to D'wana Terry,
    Chief, Public Safety and Private Wireless Division, Wireless
    Telecommunications Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (dated
    May 15, 2003) (2003 Waiver Request).

[^15]: *Id*.

[^16]: *2004 Garmin Order*, 20 FCC Rcd at 984 ¶ 6 *citing* 2003 Waiver
    Request at 2.

[^17]: *Id*.

[^18]: *See* Garmin International, Inc., Petition for Rulemaking,
    RM-10762, at 4 (filed July 22, 2003) (Garmin 2003 Petition for
    Rulemaking). The Commission placed the Garmin 2003 Petition for
    Rulemaking on public notice on August 6, 2003. Consumer and
    Governmental Affairs Bureau Reference Information Center Petition
    for Rulemaking, *Public Notice*, Report No. 2619 (Aug. 6, 2003). The
    Commission received seven comments and one reply comment during the
    pleading cycle and one *ex parte* after the pleading cycle. This
    petition will be addressed in a separate proceeding.

[^19]: *2004 Garmin* *Orde*r, 20 FCC Rcd at 986 ¶ 13. The Division also
    conditioned the waiver upon the resolution of the Garmin 2003
    Petition for Rulemaking. *Id.*

[^20]: *Id*. at 982 ¶ 9.

[^21]: *See* 2006 Extension Petition.

[^22]: *Id*. at 2 and Exhibit One.

[^23]: *Id*. at 2.

[^24]: *2004 Garmin* *Orde*r, 20 FCC Rcd at 984 ¶ 8.

[^25]: *GMRS R&O*, 3 FCC Rcd at 6554 ¶ 1.

[^26]: *Id*. at 6555 ¶ 7.

[^27]: *Id*. at 6554 ¶ 2.

[^28]: *See supra* note 18.

[^29]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 95.193(b)(2).

[^30]: Harmful interference for purposes of this waiver will be
    considered interference which endangers the functioning of a
    radionavigation service or of other safety services or seriously
    degrades, obstructs or repeatedly interrupts another
    radiocommunication service operating in accordance with the
    Commission's Rules or the international *Radio Regulations*.