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Free from interference: FCC adopts powerline rules

By Matthew Miller, Special Projects Editor -- EDN, 10/26/2004

The FCC has given its formal blessing to broadband-over-powerline (BPL) technology—the delivery of broadband to homes and businesses via the electrical grid. While adopting rules designed to ensure that BPL services won't interfere with other technologies, FCC officials also asserted that BPL itself should be protected from a different kind of harmful interference: that caused by the government.

On the technical side, the FCC's ruling aims to protect users of existing services—including the Coast Guard, aircraft, and amateur-radio operators—from interference generated by data-carrying power lines. Specifically, the ruling flags some frequency bands as entirely off limits and establishes geographical "exclusion zones," such as in the vicinity of radio-astronomy facilities, where BPL services would have to avoid operating in certain frequencies. In addition, the rules define a formal process of consultation and conflict resolution, including a public database for identifying offending BPL deployments.

In announcing the rules, FCC officials waxed positively poetic about BPL's prospects. "We have both had the opportunity to witness BPL services firsthand, and we believe that this new technology holds great promise as a low-cost broadband competitor," wrote chairman Michael Powell and commissioner Kathleen Abernathy. The fact that the utility grid extends to almost every home in the nation makes BPL especially promising and worthy of a hands-off regulatory approach, they argued: "The benefits and advantages of BPL are just beginning to be recognized. That is why it is important for regulators to exercise restraint and avoid heavy-handed regulations."