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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif "League Calls Manassas BPL Interference Report "Flawed," "Misleading""){kind=small} Previous: League Calls Manassas BPL Interference Report "Flawed," "Misleading" |  Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 3, 2006 -- An FCC that's still optimistic and enthusiastic about BPL met August 3 to consider and unanimously adopt a Memorandum Opinion and Order (MO&O) in response to several petitions for reconsideration of its BPL rules -- including one from ARRL. But one commissioner stressed that the FCC has an obligation to protect Amateur Radio operators from BPL interference and to respond promptly to interference complaints. ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, and General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, were on hand for today's meeting during which the FCC suggested it was attempting to strike a balance between interference to licensed services and the BPL industry's needs.
"This rule making proceeding was initiated to provide regulatory certainty that will encourage investments in BPL, particularly so that consumers can reap the benefits," an FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) official told the commissioners. "Equally important, the Commission sought to ensure that licensed radio services are protected against harmful interference." The OET said the Commission also wanted to provide guidance so compliance measurements "are made in a consistent manner with repeatable results."
The FCC adopted its current BPL rules -- under a new Subpart G of its Part 15 rules governing unlicensed devices -- in October 2004.
 FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps [FCC Photo] |
Commenting after the OET's presentation of the MO&O, Commissioner Michael J. Copps reiterated that the FCC must also ensure that BPL providers protect existing spectrum users from interference.
"This applies with special force to Amateur Radio operators whose skills and dedication once again proved so valuable in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," Copps remarked. "Amateur radio serves the public interest in so many ways that we must be always mindful of its needs."
Copps said he believes the FCC's MO&O "strikes an acceptable balance," but added that the Commission "must be available and positioned to respond to interference complaints with alacrity. Amateur operators shouldn't have to wait for months to get complaints resolved -- they deserve better."
Most Reconsideration Petitions Denied
Addressing the various reconsideration petitions, the OET's Anh Wride noted that the BPL industry asked to extend the deadline for equipment compliance and to modify public BPL database requirements. Licensed services such as Amateur Radio, on the other hand, wanted the FCC to keep BPL providers from using certain frequencies -- the HF ham bands in the case of the ARRL's petition.
The Commission denied the industry's request to extend the effective date to meet equipment certification requirements, but it did create a limited exception. "Because BPL equipment manufacturers are only now submitting equipment for certification under the new rules, the Order includes a measure of relief to permit the continued operation of existing systems," Wride said.
BPL systems now will have another year to continue installing or replacing equipment "that otherwise meets the Part 15 rules" in their present coverage areas. "This relief is a reasonable accommodation that will limit the proliferation of non-compliant equipment," Wride said.
The Order also denies the BPL industry's request to drop the 30-day advance notification requirement for the public BPL database. "The advance notification to the BPL database ensures that other licensed users are aware of new BPL deployments in their area in advance of the start of BPL operations," Wride said.
The Order also turned down requests by licensed users, including Amateur Radio operators, to exclude the use of certain frequencies for BPL operations.
"The American Radio Relay League and a number of individual Amateur Radio licensees request that all BPL deployment be prohibited pending the adoption of a definition for 'harmful interference,' the completion of all ongoing studies of BPL and the initiation of further studies of BPL interference characteristics." Wride continued.
In addition, Wride said, the FCC denied requests to keep BPL signals off overhead medium-voltage lines and to impose more stringent technical restrictions and measurement requirements on BPL operations.
"The Commission has taken a proactive approach regarding the protection of licensed radio services in the [2004] Report & Order by placing additional technical and operational restrictions on BPL systems," Wride asserted. She said the OET believes the requirements the FCC adopted in 2004 regarding emission levels and notching "are adequate to fully protect amateur operations." She said going along with ARRL's request to reconsider, rescind and re-study the BPL rules in further proceedings could leave radio amateurs with less protection than they now have.
The FCC did grant a request from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to expand BPL exclusion zones in the vicinity of certain radio astronomy systems.
"We continue to believe that the interference concerns associated with the operation of these systems are adequately addressed through the adoption of Access BPL rules in Part 15, particularly as a new generation of BPL equipment that complies with our rules becomes available," Wride concluded.
 FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin [FCC Photo] |
As his predecessor Michael Powell did before him, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin led the cheering squad for BPL, which, he said, "holds great promise as a ubiquitous broadband solution that would offer a viable alternative to cable, digital subscriber line, fiber, and wireless broadband solutions."
His Republican colleague Deborah T. Tate echoed Martin's enthusiasm, calling the FCC's goal of ubiquitous broadband deployment in the US "an exciting prospect." She went on to say that the FCC will continue to find an appropriate balance between regulation to mitigate potential negative 'side effects' that accompany BPL "and a hands-off approach that gives BPL the room it needs to develop in a free market." She said the MO&O "strikes the right balance with minimal regulatory burdens."
Another BPL Item Deferred
At the last minute, the FCC deferred another BPL-related item, to consider the United Power Line Council's Petition for Declaratory Ruling (WC Docket 06-10) regarding the classification of BPL Internet access service as an "information service."
The FCC released a public
notice to report its August 3 BPL-related actions. The MO&O it adopted
is not expected to become available to the public for a few weeks.
| Previous: League Calls Manassas BPL Interference Report "Flawed," "Misleading" | Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
