LightSquared, Indian Health Service Partner on Communications Program
LightSquared said it will provide satellite phone service for healthcare providers in American Indian and Alaska Native communities through a partnership with the Indian Health Service. Participants may gain access to LightSquared’s wireless network once it’s built, depending on the program’s needs, a company spokesman said. LightSquared said it will donate up to 2,000 phones and provide free service through 2020.
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FCC Julius Chairman Genachowski said the effort will have “some real benefits and save lives” but said he recognized there is “lots more work to do.” Genachowski said the agency has not focused enough attention on tribal issues in the past and he hopes the new Office of Native Affairs and Policy will drive some initiatives to make a difference, he said.
LightSquared said the partnership emerged over the summer and wasn’t related to the FCC’s approval of Harbinger’s acquisition of LightSquared predecessor SkyTerra in March.
The company and the health service, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, are working to “develop deployment plans which incorporate tribal governments’ input for the satellite phones,” the company said. The partnership will begin with a pilot program, with initial deployment of satellite equipment and service this fall with the health-service’s Albuquerque-area office, which LightSquared said serves four hospitals, 11 health centers and 12 field clinics in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas. The donation is a way to “address the lack of reliable telecommunications connectivity which often plagues Tribal communities,” said LightSquared.
It’s uncertain how many of the 2,000 phones available will be used for the service, so LightSquared isn’t putting a dollar figure on the donation, the spokesman said. The company will use its two operational satellites to provide services to the MSat G2 devices, said a spokesman said. The service isn’t expected to take up significant capacity on its satellites, and it’s mostly intended for voice communications, he said. The small amount of data connectivity they provide won’t be enough to transfer a patient’s file, for instance, said the spokesman.