STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re: Amendment of the Commission’s Rules to Provide Spectrum for the Operation of 
Medical Body Area Network, First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, ET Docket No. 08-59
This is a decision with revolutionary potential.  Today’s Order makes the United States 
the first in the world to allocate spectrum for Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs).  
The promise of this technology is extraordinary.  By using small, low-powered sensors 
on the body, we can capture a wide range of physiological data.  Information about blood 
pressure, glucose, oxygen concentration in the blood, and other medical metrics can then be sent 
along wirelessly to health care providers.  This reduces the cost of patient monitoring.  It frees 
patients from being tethered to a messy collection of wires and devices, both in the hospital and in 
the home.  It makes way for medical care that is more accurate, more patient-centered, and more 
preventive.  It will save lives.    
Our action today would not be possible without the creative efforts of many people across 
multiple industries.  I want to thank the health care providers, device manufacturers, and 
aeronautical industry for their willingness to hammer out a compromise in service of the greater 
good.  By working through the complex technical and operational issues and developing a joint 
proposal for sharing in the 2360-2400 MHz band, they have done more than facilitate the further 
development and use of MBANs.  They have served as a model for developing shared use 
policies for spectrum that address interference concerns while allowing new services to flourish.  
With the growing demand for spectrum resources, it is cooperative efforts like this that give us 
hope and faith.   
As the Further Notice indicates our work is not done.  We must establish registration and 
coordination procedures.  I am hopeful that Commission staff, working with interested parties, 
will proceed quickly through the next stages of this proceeding so that MBAN devices will soon 
become available in our hospitals and homes.      
More, too, can be done with other Commission programs that facilitate the use of 
technology in medical care.  Building on its work in the Medical Radio Service, the Commission 
has already expanded it to include medical micro-power networks.  It has a first of its kind 
memorandum of understanding with the Food and Drug Administration to promote the 
development of new medical devices.  Going forward, the Commission may also need to update 
its universal service rural health care mechanism, which helps bring high-capacity broadband 
networks to rural health care providers.   
Finally, let me thank the Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology.  This 
effort is a testament to their abilities to wrestle with hard issues and see them through to 
resolutions that facilitate innovation and improve lives.