FCC Chairman Touches on BPL Interference Issue in Press Club Speech:

FCC Chairman Michael Powell has cited the Commission's promotion of Broadband over Power Line (BPL) technology as an example of a government policy that supports expansion of broadband technology to all Americans. At the same time, Powell said, the FCC needs to ensure BPL doesn't interfere with licensed radio services. In his January 14 speech before the National Press Club, Powell mentioned BPL among "new emerging platforms" for broadband delivery.

"With BPL you theoretically reach every American with broadband to every power plug in America," Powell said. "Our goals of universal service will be substantially advanced if that service were fully deployed." Powell also acknowledged interference concerns that have been dogging BPL and raised by the Amateur Radio community and by at least two federal agencies: the Federal Emergency Management Agency--now a part of the Department of Homeland Security--and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which manages spectrum allocated to government users.

"We will continue to explore ways to support this technology while protecting services from interference," Powell pledged.

In the next breath, Powell pointed out that the FCC also is looking to increase the feasibility of broadband delivery via satellite. "Because satellite technology has the ability to reach the entire country," he said, "it holds tremendous potential as an effective Internet solution for many parts of the nation, especially rural and remote areas, at affordable rates."

When it issued its BPL Notice of Inquiry (NOI), ET Docket 03-104 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-03-100A1.doc, last April, the FCC suggested that BPL technology would be one way to provide broadband service to rural dwellers. Some technology experts suggest that, because of the equipment needed to deliver BPL broadband to rural customers, BPL would not be cost-effective for such residents.

In a bit of unintended irony, Powell's speech, "The Age of Personal Communications," bore the subtitle "Power to the People."

Since BPL applies high-frequency RF to parts of the power grid, one aspect of the NOI was to gather information on potential interference to authorized spectrum users. To date, the NOI has attracted nearly 5150 comments, many from the amateur community.

The FCC has indicated that providers of BPL equipment "are free to continue to deploy their networks in conformance with existing Part 15 rules." BPL providers already are setting up BPL systems in several communities.

NTIA Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Michael D. Gallagher recently told a gathering of the Power Line Communications Association http://www.plca.net/ that the risk of interference to government or other spectrum users provides an incentive to BPL operators to "design and operate their systems to avoid such interference." He said the NTIA has been studying interference risks and the potential "for making risks more tolerable." He said the objective is "to accommodate BPL with acceptable risk."

The ARRL anticipates completing an independent BPL engineering evaluation early this year. The study will explore how BPL might affect HF and low-VHF amateur operation as well as how Amateur Radio operation could affect BPL systems.

Additional information about BPL and Amateur Radio is on the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/. To support the League's efforts in this area, visit the ARRL's secure BPL Web site https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/.

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 23, No. 03 January 16, 2004

Member Comments: