New Outlet for High-Speed Access – FCC Proposes Rules for Broadband over Power Lines

In a broadband world dominated by cable and DSL, the vision recently put forth by top U.S. telecom regulator Michael Powell of a high-speed Internet connection in every electrical outlet may seem a bit far-fetched.

By Joanna Glasner

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62327,00.html

After all, broadband over power line, or BPL, services are currently available in only about a dozen communities nationwide, and even then only on a trial basis. The first commercial service — to be deployed in Manassas, Virginia — isn’t expected to launch until summer. And so far, power companies have been reluctant to spend the vast sums required to retrofit aging networks for data.

But now that they’ve overcome some of the technological hurdles that plagued past experiments, power companies and networking providers are out to prove that BPL can be a viable business. While critics point to past flops — including high-profile projects by Nortel Networks and Germany’s Siemens — BPL believers say the power grid is too big to be ignored as a data channel.

"We’re piggybacking on the world’s largest infrastructure. It’s that simple," said Philip Hunt, CEO of Amperion, an Andover, Massachusetts, company that makes equipment for sending data over medium-voltage utility lines. In recent years, Hunt said, BPL technology has also improved, providing faster speeds and less interference.

Last week, the nascent industry got a boost in the form of a proposed rule from the FCC. The agency said it intends to establish standards for reducing interference from data transmissions along electrical lines, in response to complaints from amateur radio operators.

In individual statements, FCC commissioners also praised the potential of power-line technology to bring broadband to areas ill-served by cable and DSL. Powell said he welcomed the day "when every electrical outlet will have the potential to offer high-speed broadband and a plethora of high-tech applications to all Americans." Commissioner Kevin Martin touted BPL as a possible means to "bring Internet access and high-speed broadband to rural and isolated areas."

Once the federal government finalizes standards for power-line data transmissions later this year, electric companies will probably be more willing to invest in broadband services, said Craig Schaar, director of marketing and communications for The Power Line Communications Association, a trade group representing electric utilities. Power companies are notoriously conservative about investing in new technologies, Schaar said, and have thus far been reluctant to spend heavily on BPL initiatives.

But establishing standards will only solve half the problem, said Ed Thomas, chief engineer at the FCC. Just because BPL is technically feasible doesn’t mean it will make a good business.

"BPL is getting a pretty late start over DSL and cable modems," Thomas said. "They might look at a particular piece of geography and say, after the appropriate amount of analytical work, that the cable companies and DSL companies have it locked."

Because so few power-line broadband services are operational, a clear-cut pricing structure also has yet to emerge. So far, most trial services charge fees in the $30 or $40 a month range, comparable to DSL and cable.

Besides selling broadband services, power companies are also adding data-transmission capability for their own purposes, said John Wheadon, CEO of PowerWan, a maker of power-line data-transmission devices.

Among other uses, electrical companies can retrofit networks to enable remote meter reading. Data-enabled power lines could also run services to reduce electrical consumption, performing tasks like shutting off water heaters when customers say they will be at work.

"We’re able to basically give an IP address to every outlet," Wheadon said. "So hypothetically, the water heater would have an IP address and would be cycled off and on."

But all these innovations don’t come cheap.

For power-line communications to work, Bill Blair, an adviser to the Electric Power Research Institute, estimates that power companies must install repeaters, devices that ensure a data signal retains its strength, every quarter mile or so along their networks. Given that installing a repeater typically costs from $1,000 to $5,000, it’s an expensive undertaking.

Although the FCC believes BPL is a viable broadband option for rural America, Blair contends that the services would be most economically feasible in suburbs or cities. In a densely populated area, a single repeater will serve far more customers, he said.

Trouble is, in densely populated areas, power companies are almost guaranteed to face competition from other broadband providers, making the validation for upgrading their networks unclear.

"They’re gradually getting through the technological problems, and we’re getting closer and closer to getting things to work," Blair said. "But I’m still worried about the economics of it."

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FCC Proposes Rules for Broadband over Power Lines

http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62327,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

As part of its ongoing efforts to promote access to broadband services for all Americans and to encourage new broadband platforms, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently proposed changes to certain technical rules that will foster broadband deployment using the significantly untapped capabilities of the nation’s power grid, while safeguarding existing services against harmful interference.

The Part 15 rule changes, proposed in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking last week, set forth procedures to measure the radio frequency (RF) energy emitted by equipment used to provide broadband service over power lines. The changes will also establish particularized interference mitigation requirements. By facilitating access to broadband over power lines (BPL), the commission takes an important step toward increasing the availability of broadband in rural and underserved areas because power lines reach virtually every home and community in the country. In areas in which consumers already have broadband access, BPL enhances competition by providing another broadband alternative. These proposed changes will also facilitate the ability of electric utilities to dynamically manage the power grid itself, increasing network reliability.

Specifically the notice adopted by the commission:

• proposes rules requiring BPL devices to employ adaptive interference mitigation techniques to prevent harmful interference to existing users, such as public-safety and amateur radio operators. These techniques would enable BPL devices to cease operations altogether, dynamically reduce transmit power, and/or avoid operating on specific frequencies to prevent harmful interference;

• proposes developing a public database that would include such information as location, operational frequencies and modulation type of BPL devices, which will facilitate the resolution of interference issues in a timely fashion;

• seeks comment on specific RF measurement guidelines for BPL devices and other current carrier systems. These guidelines will ensure that emission measurements for these systems are made consistently. While the notice addresses RF measurement guidelines, it does not propose any changes to existing applicable emission limits.

Some electric utilities already use a lower-speed version of BPL technology to manage their internal networks. Widespread deployment of BPL devices will afford these same companies added benefits such as, remote power outage notification, load management to reduce peak power usage, improved load balancing and remote meter reading capabilities.