AT&T, Pacific Gas and Electric Dissolve BPL Partnership

NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 21, 2004--A BPL field trial in Menlo Park, California, where FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell had extolled the technology's virtues earlier this year, has been aborted before getting very far off the ground. The demonstration of BPL technology was co-sponsored by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and AT&T. ARRL learned this week that AT&T has decided to direct its business energies elsewhere, however, and pole-mounted BPL equipment has been dismantled. PG&E Director of Business Development Toby Tyler confirmed that his company and AT&T no longer were involved in the Menlo Park BPL pilot.

"AT&T pulled out as a result of their strategic shift away from consumer markets," Tyler told ARRL. "Without a telecom partner, it didn't make business sense for PG&E to continue with a trial."

AT&T spokesperson Michael Dickman said his company had "redirected its focus on serving enterprise customers," and, under the circumstances, has "limited involvement with BPL."

When Powell visited the Menlo Park BPL pilot project in July, he applauded AT&T and PG&E for "leading the way for this innovative technology" that he claimed "holds the great promise to bring high-speed Internet access to every power outlet in America."

The chairman reiterated those sentiments October 14, when the FCC adopted new Part 15 rules to govern the deployment of BPL. Although the actual Report and Order in the proceeding, ET Docket 04-37, has not been finalized, it appears--judging from available information--that the new BPL rules will be more restrictive than those recommended in the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rule Making on BPL last February.

ARRL Santa Clara Valley Section Official Observer Coordinator Andy Korsak, KR6DD, told ARRL that AT&T pulled down the Main.net BPL boxes that he and his team had been monitoring in Menlo Park. "We heard only sparse Geiger counter-like clicks, indicating only perhaps system housekeeping between the four Main.net boxes I identified up on power poles," Korsak said. "There were supposed to have been 14 nodes in the network of the original plan posted in a Menlo Park Almanac article with a map back on July 21."

He said his BPL monitoring team was keeping its Web site active for now "in case the ugly monster rears its head again." According to Korsak, SCV Section Manager Kit Blanke, WA6PWW, is initiating a section-wide plan to alert hams and have them log HF noise levels in advance of possible BPL deployment in their area.

When Powell spoke at Menlo Park this past summer, he said the future was bright for BPL. His optimism, at least in the case of the PG&E-AT&T BPL partnership, now appears to have been ill-advised.

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