FCC Lets TerreStar Offer WMTS Using Formerly Vacated Licenses
The FCC Wireless Bureau allowed TerreStar to begin offering wireless medical telemetry services (WMTS) in the 1.4 GHz band, reversing an earlier order finding the licenses had been terminated. The company got 64 commercial wireless licenses in the 1.4 GHz…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
band through secondary market transactions in 2008 and faced an April 23, 2017, buildout deadline. The FCC earlier rejected a waiver request. Last summer, TerreStar met with Chairman Ajit Pai and others at the agency asking for a rethink of earlier decisions (see 1908270027). “With the COVID-19 outbreak causing increased reliance on medical telemetry monitoring in hospitals and on telehealth in general, this action will help ensure that traditional health care facilities have more spectrum capacity to meet a surge of additional monitoring demands that may occur in emergencies,” the FCC said in a Thursday news release. The decision was based on “new information” raised by TerreStar, the American Society for Health Care Engineering of the American Hospital Association, GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare on the “interference potential” to WMTS and “the need for additional WMTS spectrum for the benefit of public health and safety,” the FCC said. The decision will “permanently protect and expand” WMTS across the U.S., TerreStar said.