Industry Invokes National Broadband Goals in Defending FCC’s BPL Rules
The broadband-over-power-line industry in comments Wednesday said keeping the FCC’s existing BPL rules would advance broadband stimulus efforts. However, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) said changes are needed to prevent interference to amateur radio. The rulemaking proposal follows a 2008 remand of the FCC’s BPL rules by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The court faulted the FCC on procedure, saying the agency gave no “reasoned explanation” for an extrapolation factor used to measure BPL emissions (CD May 9/08 p6). The court also compelled the agency to publicly release unredacted copies of studies it conducted for formulating its rules.
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The BPL industry said retaining existing BPL rules will spur broadband investment and promote clean, green energy. Regulatory uncertainty has stunted investment, said the HomePlug Power Alliance, which includes more than 75 companies that develop BPL specifications and certification programs.
But the American Radio Relay League urged the FCC to protect amateur radio from “harmful interference” by BPL. “Access BPL is, absent substantial technical limits not found in the present BPL rules, absolutely incompatible with normal licensed Amateur radio communications.” The amateur radio association urged the FCC to require “mandatory, full time notching of all Amateur allocations by BPL systems” operating between 3 and 54 MHz, with notch depths of 35 dB. And the agency should choose a new, “scientifically valid” extrapolation factor for measuring BPL emissions below 30 MHz, it said.
But there have been few interference complaints involving BPL systems, said the United Power Line Council, an alliance of utilities and BPL companies formed in 2001 by the Utilities Telecom Council. BPL provider International Broadband Electric Communications (IBEC) said it’s been able to resolve all interference complaints under the FCC’s existing BPL rules. The company’s customers include active amateur radio users, fire and police departments, it said.
Neither side supported adoption of a 30 dB/decade extrapolation factor proposed by the FCC. The existing 40 dB/decade factor “has been used for decades for a variety of Part 15 devices as well as BPL systems,” the powerline council said. Changing the factor “would require more evidence that BPL emissions decay at a different rate.” ARRL said the FCC has never provided a “reasoned justification” for keeping the existing factor, but called the FCC’s proposal “arbitrary” because a 30 dB factor hasn’t been justified either. The association instead endorsed a 20 dB factor, citing evidence it’s submitted before.
Any reduction to the factor “would directly reduce the performance of all BPL devices such that it would be difficult if not [impossible] to provide a marketable product for Access BPL, SmartGrid BPL and In-home BPL markets,” said BPL manufacturer SPiDCOM. The speed of such devices would be impacted, but more critically, the coverage (i.e. distance between devices) would likely be so reduced that Access and SmartGrid BPL devices would not be viable.” Adopting a 30 dB factor would create high costs for BPL operators, said the Council. “Using a 30 dB extrapolation factor would necessarily require BPL systems to reduce power in order to comply with the emission limits. That would negatively impact performance of the BPL system and drive up the costs, because repeaters would need to be spaced closer together if they operate on lower power.”
However, the Council said it would support giving operators flexibility to develop their own factor when circumstances called for it. IBEC agreed, saying “in certain cases it may be advantageous to create special procedures to address unique site-related issues.” Equipment manufacturers “should bear the responsibility for justifying the procedures and ensuring that they meet the requirements and intent” of the FCC’s BPL rules.
The FCC’s five BPL studies, released without redactions in July, contained evidence that directly conflicted with the agency’s conclusions about the interference potential of BPL to licensed radio services, ARRL said. The studies “necessitate a complete review of the proper regulatory framework for Access BPL systems.”
The FCC studies don’t justify adoption of a different extrapolation factor, said HomePlug, because none “actually examined the path loss extrapolation factor.” Recent studies from the NTIA, Brazil and the Communications Research Center in Canada support a 40 dB/decade factor, it added. The previously blacked-out parts of the FCC studies are “merely opinions,” which the Commission has the discretion to follow or not,” said the Council. They're “generally consistent with the FCC rules that were ultimately adopted and include additional information that is advisory in nature.”
The FCC studies may have supported adoption of a variety of extrapolation factors, but the commission had the prerogative to choose 40 dB/decade, said Current Technologies, which deploys smart grid services. “The Commission need not show that 40 dB/decade is the only justifiable value, just that it is a reasonable value in light of the record. The Commission has easily met this test.”