The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has levied penalties against two Colorado-based companies for providing unlicensed GPS services and for altering equipment to operate outside of authorized spectrum bands.
Issued in late May, the Forfeiture Orders levy fines of $207,290 against IOU Acquisitions and $327,290 against Air-Tel LLC for offering wireless broadband-based GPS services that rely on satellite communications and wireless broadband. The companies were also found to have altered the settings of wireless equipment to operate the equipment outside of the frequency bands for which they were authorized.
Each company holds authorization to provide radiolocation services in the 3300-3650 MHz band, which generally uses radar-based technologies that rely on the propagation of radio waves to determine the position of an object for non-navigational purposes.
The Forfeiture Orders followed an investigation by an FCC field agent at the companies’ joint facility in Denver, and the issuance of a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in 2018.
Read the complete text of the Forfeiture Order in connection with IOU Acquisitions.
