[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 143 (Tuesday, July 27, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44667-44668]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-17076]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[DA 04-2071]


Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Extends the Freeze on High 
Power Use of the 460-470 MHz Band Offset Channels

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This document informs that the freeze on the filing of 
applications for high power operations on 12.5 kHz offset channels in 
the private land mobile radio (PLMR) 460-470 MHz band will remain in 
effect until December 31, 2005. The Bureau is extending the duration of 
the freeze to provide hospitals and other health care providers that 
operate medical telemetry equipment in the 460-470 MHz band adequate 
time to migrate to spectrum dedicated to the Wireless Medical Telemetry 
Service (``WMTS''), while providing PLMR users a date certain by which 
the freeze will end. The Bureau does not anticipate any further 
extensions of the December 31, 2005 deadline.

DATES: Effective July 8, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Freda Lippert Thyden, 
[email protected], Public Safety & Critical Infrastructure Division, 
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, (202) 418-0627, or TTY (202) 418-
7233.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of a Public Notice 
released on July 8, 2004.
    1. The Commission, in 1995, adopted a new, more efficient channel 
plan for PLMR services in the 450-470 MHz band. Under the channel plan 
adopted, channels in the 450-470 MHz band that were 12.5 kHz removed 
from regularly-assignable channels at that time (``12.5 kHz offset 
channels'') would be available for high power operations. Previously, 
medical telemetry systems used these ``offsets'' on a secondary, 
noninterference basis to primary adjacent channel PLMR operations. 
Recognizing that co-channel, high power operations could result in 
interference to medical telemetry operations, the Bureau froze the 
filing of applications for high power operations on offset channels in 
the 450-470 MHz band pending resolution of the medical telemetry 
issues.
    2. In June 2000, the Commission established the Wireless Medical 
Telemetry Service (WMTS), an action aimed at ensuring that in-hospital 
medical telemetry devices can operate

[[Page 44668]]

free of harmful interference. In establishing the WMTS, the Commission 
allotted a total of 13.5 megahertz of spectrum on a primary basis in 
three blocks (608-614 MHz, 1395-1400 MHz, and 1427-1429.5 MHz). Also, 
the Commission determined that WMTS operations should be licensed by 
rule in lieu of individual licensing. Based on this decision, the 
Commission further decided that there was a need to establish some 
mechanism to track the usage of WMTS transmitters. In this regard, the 
Commission concluded that this information should be maintained in a 
database by one or more private sector frequency coordinators to be 
designated by the Bureau. Prior to operation, health care providers 
must register all medical telemetry devices operating on WMTS spectrum. 
In addition, the Commission encouraged hospitals to migrate their 
medical telemetry operations from the 460-470 MHz band to the new WMTS 
bands. To accommodate this migration, the Commission stated its 
intention to lift the freeze on applications for high power use of 
offset channels in the 460-470 MHz band within three years of the 
effective date of the WMTS rules.
    3. On September 23, 2003, however, the American Hospital 
Association (AHA) reported that, based on its recent, informal polling 
of hospitals, there has been virtually no migration of medical 
telemetry systems to the WMTS frequencies. AHA noted that high power 
use in the 460-470 MHz band has the potential to interfere with 
existing medical telemetry systems that have not moved to the WMTS 
frequencies. AHA also recognized that the land mobile radio community 
is eager to obtain the full utilization of this band. In this 
connection, AHA stated that ``no one will benefit if widespread 
interference to medical telemetry services results from the premature 
use of this band by higher-powered land mobile systems.'' To address 
this matter, AHA asked that the freeze not be lifted and proposed a 
thirty-month plan for the transition of medical telemetry operations to 
the WMTS spectrum. In a Public Notice released October 15, 2003, the 
Bureau announced it was extending the freeze for a period of up to 180 
days and sought comment on the AHA proposal. The Land Mobile 
Communications Council (LMCC), an umbrella organization representing 
the PLMR community that includes as members all Part 90 frequency 
coordinators, opposed the AHA proposal.
    4. The Bureau has been working with AHA and the American Society 
for Health Care Engineering (ASHE), representing health care provider 
interests, and LMCC, representing the interests of the PLMR community, 
to develop a plan to allow for the orderly transition of high power 
operations on 12.5 kHz offset channels in the PLMR 460-470 MHz band. 
The Bureau also has been coordinating with representatives of the U.S. 
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on this matter to ensure that 
medical telemetry communications, particularly those of a critical 
nature, are not adversely affected during such transition. In this 
regard, the Bureau has extended the current freeze on previous 
occasions in an effort to develop a transition plan and process which 
equitably balanced the interests of the identified stakeholders and 
resulted in minimum disruption to current operations in the 460-470 MHz 
band. After months of discussions coordinated with the Bureau, AHA and 
LMCC, by consensus, developed an approach whereby the current freeze 
would remain in effect through December 31, 2005.
    5. AHA and LMCC believe, on balance, that the public interest would 
be best served by maintaining the current freeze until December 31, 
2005, rather than lifting it at some earlier time. This approach 
provides a date certain by which all medical telemetry operations in 
the 460-470 MHz band can either transition to the WMTS spectrum or 
obtain interference protection by becoming licensed on the same basis 
as other part 90 operations. It also provides sufficient time to permit 
effective planning for an orderly and efficient transition so as to 
avoid disruption to ongoing medical telemetry operations. In addition, 
it provides a mechanism to continue to protect medical telemetry 
operations from harmful interference pending their transition to WMTS 
spectrum or part 90 licensing.
    6. Given this extended transition, the parties have agreed to work 
with both the FCC and the FDA to provide impetus for the migration of 
hospitals from the 460 MHz band to the new WMTS bands. To further 
assist health care facilities still operating low-powered telemetry 
systems in the 460-470 MHz band in their transition to the WMTS 
spectrum or to fully licensed status, ASHE has created a registration 
process that will allow such hospitals and health care facilities to 
register information about their current use with ASHE. This 
registration program will allow AHA and ASHE to compile a more accurate 
database of the number, location and frequency being used by hospitals 
operating in the 460-470 MHz band, which will, in turn allow AHA, ASHE, 
the FDA and the Bureau to track the progress of the migration of 
medical telemetry devices out of the 460-470 MHz band, assist hospitals 
with problems in migration, and communicate with the affected hospitals 
regarding the regulatory impact of the lifting of the freeze on 
December 31, 2005. We take this opportunity to remind operators of WMTS 
equipment that to be licensed as required by the Commission's rules, 
they must register their equipment and frequencies with ASHE prior to 
operation. See 47 CFR 95.1111.
    7. The decision to extend the freeze is procedural in nature and 
therefore not subject to the notice and comment and effective date 
requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. Moreover, there is 
good cause for not using notice and comment procedures in this case, or 
making the freeze extension effective 30 days after publication in the 
Federal Register. We find that such procedures would be impractical, 
unnecessary and contrary to the public interest as our compliance would 
undermine the public policy rationale of the freeze in the first place.
    This action is authorized under Sections 4(i), 4(j), and 303(r) of 
the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 154(j), 
303(r), and is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sec. Sec.  
0.131 and 0.331 of the Commission's Rules, 47 CFR 0.131, 0.331.

Federal Communications Commission.
Ramona Melson,
Associate Chief, Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division, 
WTB.
[FR Doc. 04-17076 Filed 7-26-04; 8:45 am]
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