Industry Says FCC BPL Order Will Spur Deployments

The FCC adopted the order unanimously, with Comr. Copps dissenting in part. He said he remained concerned about interference to amateur radio. The FCC, he said, had an obligation to “work hard to monitor, investigate and take quick action where appropriate to resolve harmful interference.” Calling for a system to resolve interference immediately if an agreement eludes the BPL operator and amateur radio user, Copps said: “These cases must not take years to resolve.” He also said the order “dodges” issues such as universal service, disabilities access, E911, pole attachments and cross-subsidization.”

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chmn. Pat Wood told us that Copps’s concerns about cross- subsidization would be handled by states using FERC accounting techniques. NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher called the FCC order a “fabulous piece of work,” adding that it had “absolutely” addressed the concerns raised by his agency.

The order was a combination of the FCC’s original proposals and the NTIA recommendations, plus requirements for certification of BPL equipment. To address interference issues, the order requires that BPL systems: (1) Incorporate capabilities to modify operations to mitigate or avoid interference. They should also have the ability to notch or avoid using specific frequencies and to remotely shut down operations. “The idea of adaptive notching is fine as opposed to notching everywhere,” said Alan Shark, pres. of the Power Line Communications Assn. (2) Avoid operating entirely in certain “excluded frequency bands” to protect aeronautical and aircraft receiver communications and avoid operating in certain frequencies in exclusion zones close to sensitive operations such as coast guard or radio astronomy stations. Although it was “scary” when the exclusion zones were first proposed, the industry realized that it was only a few locations, said Shark: “We can live with that.”

(3) Notify and consult with public safety agencies, federal govt. sensitive stations and aeronautical stations before starting operations. (4) Set up a publicly available database to identify and resolve harmful interference. The information going into the database will be limited to the presence of BPL systems and identifying interference problems. “It looks like we need to have just the zip code, the manufacturer’s name and the contact person,” said Shark. He said there were some concerns initially about what kind of information would go into the database, because utilities, being critical infrastructure, could run into homeland security issues: “This is not giving anything proprietary away. It’s a pain but we can live with it.” The database is going to be “limited in terms of disclosure,” said Brett Kilbourne, regulatory dir. of the United Power Line Council (UPLC), and therefore “certainly manageable.” The order also changes the equipment authorization for BPL systems from verification to certification, which the FCC said was appropriate for new technologies. It would allow Commission oversight, the FCC added. Kilbourne said the order is unclear whether the certification requirement would be applicable to the BPL operator or the equipment manufacturer.

“There are no real surprises here,” said Kilbourne. Despite a “lot of politics,” the order was “fairly balanced” and focused on the technical issues, he said, adding “that will encourage deployment. We are going to see a lot more deployments in the next 6 months or so.” Shark said the order was a “great compromise” and a “great step in the right direction. There is nothing we cannot work around.”

Saying the “devil always is in the details,” an ARRL spokesman said there were some positive aspects to the FCC action. He said it was unclear if the notification and consultation required before deployment would oblige the BPL operator to inform customers there was a possibility that the operation would be shut down if interference couldn’t be mitigated. As for measurement procedures, there was no mention of who would do the measurement, he said: “We remain concerned what the measurement procedures may be.” The spokesman said the certification requirement was a “good thing.” The ARRL hoped the onus for certification would be on the operator to avoid long delays in resolution of problems, he added.

In a joint statement, Powell and Wood urged utilities to pursue “new and developing technologies, such as BPL, that will foster greater customer options in broadband, provide more efficient management of the power supply system, and ensure increased operational reliability.” They said in doing so utilities should appropriately allocate revenue and costs related to new technologies between regulated and unregulated functions. They agreed to monitor the “experience with BPL to ensure that existing regulations do not stifle the development of this nascent technology.”

Meanwhile, FCC Gen. Counsel John Rogovin told the ARRL that it found no violation of the sunshine rules by Powell’s participation Tues. in a BPL event in Manassas (CD Oct 14 p2). The ARRL had sought Powell’s recusal, saying that further participation in the BPL proceedings would “irrevocably taint” them. But Rogovin told ARRL counsel in a letter that the sunshine period prohibition doesn’t apply to exempt presentations, including those that are “requested by (or made with the advance approval of) the Commission or staff for the clarification or adduction of evidence, or resolution of issues.”

Appreciating the FCC for keeping the focus of its BPL proceedings on technical issues, UPLC Pres. William Moroney urged regulatory restraint to help the technology mature and allow the industry to grow. On the industry database requirement, he said the UPLC already has developed a Web-based prototype that would support rapid, local resolution of any interference. It had created the database in initial consultation with ARRL, he said, and “anticipates continuing to work jointly with ARRL and any other interested group on this issue.” UPLC’s parent, the United Telecom Council, already maintains a confidential database of power line carrier users with the Dept. of Commerce, Moroney added.