Strategic Window: Broadband Power Line Technology Continues Its Advance

The FCC is requesting information and comment about two types of power line technology: access and in-house. The access type uses medium voltage (1,000 to 40,000 volts) power lines to bring Internet and other broadband applications to homes and offices. In-house uses existing electric utility wiring to network computers and printers, as well as smart appliances, within a building.

Technical data, comment and any other information concerning the current state of high-speed broadband power line technology; the potential interference effects, if any, on authorized spectrum users; test results from power line experimental sites; and the appropriate measurement procedure for testing emission characteristics for all types of carrier current systems are topics of interest noted by the FCC. Also of interest are changes that may be needed in Part 15 technical rules and the equipment approval pro-cess to foster the development of power line technology and to ensure that interference is not caused to other services as a result of this technology.

As reported in the xchange's May cover story, new momentum is building around power line communications, which can be used to establish broadband local connections over energy companies' power grids.

If PLC is commercially deployed in a significant way in the U.S. this time around, it could offer competitive local communications providers an important new broadband path into customers' homes and businesses.

"I've always said that broadband is the policy issue of the day," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell in a commission meeting Jan. 15. "Assuming any technical considerations can be worked through, power line broadband, or PLB, provides an enormous opportunity to bring a third broadband option to virtually every home and building in America by turning every power outlet into a potential broadband link."

From the utilities' standpoint, PLC is interesting on at least two fronts. It creates the potential for a new revenue stream through retail or wholesale broadband local access. PLC also could bring new intelligence to utility net-works, offering energy companies a way to manage their core energy businesses more efficiently by enabling technicians to do load management, outage monitoring, notification and other functions, remotely.

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