FCC proposes new rules to aid wireless health research (US)

Donna Cusano

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today proposed rules that create a new ‘program license’ specifically for ‘qualified entities’ to conduct broad scale research without needing separate and prior approvals for each experiment. Of most interest to us is the ‘medical license’– for medical institutions to develop new wireless services and technologies–but also applicable is the ‘research license’ for universities and labs plus the ‘innovation zone license’ covering testing in generally remote locations. Also in the release, and of interest, is the FCC’s intent to promote research on using ‘dynamic access’ to maximize spectrum utilization (e.g. TV ‘white spaces’).  FCC release.  Full text .doc file (88 pages!)   Hat tip to Bob Primosch of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP posting on the LinkedIn Wireless Health group.