Technology companies led by General Electric want to revolutionize the nascent medical-monitoring industry by taking to the airwaves. Standing in the way is Boeing.
GE's health-care unit has asked the Federal Communications Commission to allow devices that transmit patients' vital signs to share the 2360MHz to 2400MHz range of the electromagnetic spectrum, now used by Chicago-based Boeing to test the safety of planes. It's the only section of the spectrum where remote monitoring would be cost-effective, according to GE Healthcare. Boeing, the largest U.S. aircraft maker, is urging the FCC not to allow new uses of the space. Transmitting medical signals on the spectrum would interfere with flight-test data, causing delays that would cost $50,000 an hour, said Audrey Allison, the company's frequency-management services director. The disputed bandwidth may bring the U.S. as much as $6 billion should the FCC decide to auction it, said Coleman Bazelon, an industry consultant at Brattle Group.
