FCC endorses broadband over power lines

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rejected requests by several groups, including amateur radio operators, TV broadcasters, and aeronautical companies, to severely limit or completely ban broadband services over power lines because of radio interference issues.

In a Memorandum Opinion and Order adopted on Thursday, the FCC affirmed the right of broadband power line (BPL) operators to provide communications services over power transmission lines provided their services don't interfere with existing radio services.

The decision follows a number of petitions by groups, in particular ham radio operators, that have complained about radio interference caused by new BPL services and have requested new rules.

While standing by its previous decision to support BPL, the FCC said it remains committed to addressing all interference issues. In that context, the Commission announced provisions to protect some aeronautical stations and radio astronomy sites from interference.

But statements released by the FCC and its commissioners show continued support for new broadband platforms, such as BPL.

The FCC said BPL holds great promise as a ubiquitous broadband technology that can compete with cable, DSL (digital subscriber line), fiber, and wireless broadband systems, emphasizing its advantage of allowing customers to simply plug into an electrical outlet for broadband connectivity.

The U.S. is behind the game in providing households and small businesses with high-speed Internet access, Commissioner Michael Copps said in a separate statement. BPL is a credible candidate for a third pipe in addition to DSL and cable, he wrote. But Copps was also to quick to point out that the commission will ensure that BPL providers protect existing spectrum users from interference.

Whether BPL will succeed in carving out a profitable chunk of the broadband access market remains to be seen. The technology faces tough competition from DSL and cable operators. Although still in its infancy, high-speed wide-area wireless technologies such as WiMax could also prove to be a tough competitor.

Efforts to use electricity cables to transmit data took a step forward in Europe earlier this year with the publication of an open specification for power line communications (PLC).

The Open PLC European Research Alliance (OPERA), partly funded by the European Commission, said its specification will accelerate the development of products that use power lines for broadband Internet access, voice and video services, as well as utility applications such as automatic meter reading.

Products based on the specification will deliver data at speeds of more than 200Mbps, according to OPERA. It is based on OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) modulation and offers both FD (Frequency Division) and TD (Time Division) repeating capabilities.