Puerto Rico WISPs Fined for Interfering With Doppler Weather Radar
The FCC Enforcement Bureau fined WinPR, a wireless ISP in Puerto Rico, $25,000 for “willfully operating” unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) devices “in an unauthorized manner that caused interference to the FAA’s terminal doppler weather radar station in San Juan.”…
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The bureau proposed fines against three WISPs in August, including WinPR (see 1908220031). “WinPR’s U-NII devices were not configured to sense the presence of the FAA’s terminal doppler weather radar station and to move to a non-interfering frequency,” said Thursday's order: “WinPR has not filed a response to the Notice.” Staff reduced a proposed fine against Caribbean Network Solutions, a second WISP in Puerto Rico, to $7,912 from $20,000. The bureau's “persuaded by the argument in the Response (and accompanying documentation) that Caribbean lacks the ability to pay the full $20,000 forfeiture,” it said. The bureau wasn’t persuaded by arguments the company was unaware it was causing interference to the Doppler stations or that it took “remedial actions” after receiving notice or on its history of compliance with rules. The WISPs didn’t comment.