April 30, 2020 Via E-Mail Ronald Repasi Acting Chief
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April 30, 2020 Via E-Mail Ronald Repasi Acting Chief, Office of Engineering and Technology Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington DC, 20554 Re: Emergency Request for Waiver Dear Mr. Repasi: Pursuant to Section 1.3 of the Commission’s rules,1/ RADWIN LTD. (“RADWIN”) requests, on behalf of its customers listed in Attachment 1 to this letter, an emergency waiver of Section 15.407 of the rules so that those customers – which employ JET Point-to-Multipoint, beam- forming fixed wireless base station solutions2/ -- can operate at power limits otherwise applicable to point-to-point systems in the U-NII-1 (5.15-5.25 GHz) and U-NII-3 (5.725-5.85 GHz) bands.3/ Grant of the requested waiver would serve the public interest by allowing RADWIN’s customers to add capacity to, and enhance the robustness of, their networks in the areas listed in Attachment 1, to address the increase in traffic they are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background RADWIN, established in 1997, is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. RADWIN’s U.S. subsidiary, RADWIN Inc., is located in Mahwah, New Jersey.4/ RADWIN is a leading provider of sub-6 GHz wireless broadband solutions, providing point-to-point and point-to-multi-point products to major carriers, large, medium and small wireless internet service providers (“WISPs”) and others in the United States and worldwide. RADWIN’s products power a variety of access, backhaul and vertical private networks applications, with the vast majority of them deployed by service providers to deliver fixed wireless broadband access services to residential and enterprise subscribers, mostly in rural and suburban areas. RADWIN’s customers listed in 1/ See 47 C.F.R. § 1.3. 2/ The RADWIN devices covered by this waiver operate under FCC ID: Q3K-BFJET5X. 3/ See 47 C.F.R. § 15.407. RADWIN equipment operates in other segments of the 5 GHz band. This waiver request related only to the U-NII-1 and U-NII-3 bands. 4/ RADWIN Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of RADWIN, serves as the distributor of RADWIN broadband wireless systems to independent distributors in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, it provides training and post-sales technical support to customers and partners. RADWIN LTD. develops, manufactures, and markets RADWIN products globally. ______________________________________________________________________ RADWIN Inc., 900 Corporate Drive, Mahwah, NJ 07430, USA; Tel: 1-800-RADWINUS RADWIN Ltd., 27 Habarzel Street, Tel-Aviv 69710, ISRAEL; Tel: +972-3-766-2900 www.radwin.com Attachment 1 provide those broadband access services, often in remote and rural locations, and are currently experiencing higher demand and stress on their networks as the COVID-19 pandemic forces more Americans to work, learn, socialize, and, where available, engage in telemedicine from home. Grant of the Waiver Request is in the Public Interest Section 15.407 of the FCC’s rules requires devices using point-to-multipoint technologies in the 5 GHz U-NII bands to operate with power limits lower than fixed point-to-point devices operating in the same band.5/ Waiver of the rule would permit those same devices to operate at higher power, providing RADWIN customers the ability to better serve end users during this critical and unprecedented time. Section 1.3 of the rules allows the Commission to waive its rules for “good cause” shown.6/ Specifically, a waiver is appropriate where particular facts would make strict compliance with the rules inconsistent with the public interest.7/ To satisfy this public interest requirement, the waiver cannot undermine the purposes of the rule, and there must be a stronger public interest benefit in granting the waiver than in applying the rule.8/ Good cause exists to grant RADWIN’s request for waiver. First, it will allow RADWIN’s customers using JET Point-to-Multipoint fixed wireless access solutions to provide better high speed broadband service to their subscribers so that they can stay connected and access essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using increased power will allow RADWIN customers to provide improved system performance, including capacity and robustness, both of which are key to getting, and keeping more of those customers’ end users on line at the same time. This relief is particularly critical to RADWIN’s customers in remote areas, many of whom have limited access during usual conditions to, among other critical services, health care and will increasingly rely on telehealth during the current pandemic. This video shows the important role that WISPs that use RADWIN products play in their users’ lives and other examples of how RADWIN helps its customers serve rural and remote end users is available on RADWIN’s website. 5/ See 47 C.F.R. § 15.407. 6/ See 47 C.F.R. § 1.3. 7/ See Northeast Cellular Tel. Co., L.P. v. FCC, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (articulating the waiver standard under 47 C.F.R. § 1.3); WAIT Radio v. FCC, 418 F.2d 1153, 1159 (D.C. Cir. 1969); see also ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited v. FCC, 428 F.3d 264 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (quoting Northeast Cellular). 8/ See, e.g., WAIT Radio, 418 F.2d at 1157 (stating that even though the overall objectives of a general rule have been adjudged to be in the public interest, it is possible that application of the rule to a specific case may not serve the public interest if an applicant’s proposal does not undermine the public interest policy served by the rule); Northeast Cellular, 897 F.2d at 1166 (stating that in granting a waiver, an agency must explain why deviation from the general rule better serves the public interest than would strict adherence to the rule). 2 Second, grant of the requested waiver would not undermine the purpose of the rule because it would have minimal impact on the surrounding radiofrequency environment based on the unique beam-forming characteristics of the RADWIN JET base station radios.9/ As indicated above, RADWIN’s request is for a limited duration – i.e., sixty (60) days – to meet the increasing demand on networks created by COVID-19. In addition, as demonstrated by the e-mail that RADWIN sent to its customers, which is included as Attachment 2, and as explained further below, RADWIN’s customers have acknowledged (and will acknowledge again prior to deployment of software that increases the output power of their devices) that the equipment must revert to its original settings when the waiver expires. Third, grant of the waiver will enable existing RADWIN customers to deploy utilizing existing assets and in already-used frequency bands. Grant of the waiver request represents one of the simplest ways the Commission can provide needed relief during this pandemic. In contrast, requiring RADWIN’s customers to adhere strictly to the power levels for point-to- multipoint technologies in Section 15.407 during the COVID-19 pandemic may impede their ability to satisfy the increasing subscriber demand on their networks. Unless RADWIN is permitted to increase the capacity of its customers’ networks, the ability of Americans to stay connected and obtain critical services like telemedicine during the pandemic will be more limited – a result clearly contrary to the public interest. RADWIN Customers Will Be Provided Explicit Direction Regarding the Limited Applicability of the Waiver The following outlines the steps that RADWIN will take to enable, and then disable operation of the affected base station units with higher power. Pre-Waiver Mode Activation – The customers on the attached list will receive a special software release -- “COVID-19 Waiver SW Release” that will include a dedicated link to upload the software release and detailed release notes with all related information and guidelines. a. The software release will be applied by connecting to the base station via the “RADWIN Manager,” which is the technician application used for configuring, monitoring and managing the device. b. Unlike typical RADWIN Manager upgrades, this software release would require an internet connection to enable RADWIN to track the activation of base stations under the waiver. This will permit RADWIN to track Service Providers that elect to temporarily use higher power. c. When clicking on the software release link, the RADWIN Manager will be updated to include a special new tab/button called: “Activate COVID-19 Waiver 9/ See Petition for Rulemaking of RADWIN LTD., RM-11812 at 7 (filed June 18, 2018) (explaining that allowing RADWIN’s beam-forming devices to operate at power levels for point-to-point technologies will not increase the risk of interference or adversely impact others). Nevertheless, if there are particular geographic areas where the FCC or the National Telecommunications and Information Administration believe it inappropriate to grant the request, RADWIN will ensure that Customers in those areas are unable to temporarily modify their operations as described below. 3 Mode.” Once clicked, an online page will pop-up with a message indicating the service provider is about to enter a specific operation mode, provided under a unique FCC COVID-19 Waiver. By proceeding, the user will be required to acknowledge that: The customer has read and understands the FCC’s waiver. The FCC has permitted operation with higher power for a limited period of time. The customer will modify the operation of the base station back to its FCC permitted power level on or before the date the waiver expires. Operating with the power level permitted under the waiver past the waiver expiration date is a violation of FCC rules and the customer may be subject to FCC enforcement action, including potential monetary forfeitures. The Service Provider will be required to acknowledge these terms and only then the “COVID-19 Waiver Mode” will be available to the customer.