FCC Issues Inquiry on Broadband Power Line Technology

The FCC yesterday initiated a notice of inquiry on broadband over power line technology. The inquiry seeks public comment on using existing electrical power lines to provide Internet and broadband services to homes and offices.

The inquiry addresses the two types of power line technology: access and in-house. Access technology of this 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.

In the inquiry, the FCC seeks information, comment and technical data on issues concerning broadband over power line, specifically 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; the appropriate measurement procedure for testing emission characteristics for all types of carrier current systems; changes that may be needed in Part 15 technical rules and the equipment approval process 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 will be reported in the upcoming May issue of XCHANGE, 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 actually 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 brings new intelligence to utility networks, offering energy companies the ability to more efficiently manage their core energy businesses by enabling technicians to remotely do load management, outage monitoring, notification, and the like.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines