The Federal Communications Commission released the text of its Report and Order addressing Access Broadband over Power Lines. On Oct. 14, the FCC adopted changes to Part 15 of its rulings, while safeguarding existing licensed services from harmful interference. Access BPL is a new technology that provides access to high-speed broadband services using the untapped communications capabilities of the nation's power grid.

By facilitating access to BPL, the FCC takes an important step toward increasing the availability of broadband to wider areas of the country because power lines reach virtually every home and community. In areas where consumers already have broadband access like DSL and cable modems, BPL can enhance competition by providing another broadband alternative. Access BPL will also facilitate the ability of electric utilities to dynamically manage the power grid itself, increasing network reliability by remote diagnosis of electrical system failures, says the FCC.

In the Report and Order (Order) adopting these changes, the FCC stated that its intention in adopting the Part 15 rule changes was to ensure that access BPL operations do not become a source of harmful interference to licensed radio services. Based on extensive research and analyses, as well as experience, it concluded that the interference concerns of licensed radio users can be adequately addressed and that access BPL systems will be able to operate successfully on an unlicensed, non-inter-ference basis under the Part 15 model. The rule changes in the Order establish specific technical and administrative requirements for access BPL equipment and operators to ensure that interference does not occur and, should it occur, to provide for a timely resolution of that harmful interference without disruption of service to access BPL subscribers. The Order also sets forth procedures to measure the RF energy emitted by access BPL equipment. The FCC approved its report and order despite objections from licensed wireless users such as cellular and ham radio operators who consider BPL to be a serious contributor to interference. While BPL systems have been deployed and are undergoing testing, issues still remain about the best way to avoid interference with existing services. The abililty of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to drop carriers and hence avoid certain bands makes it a promising technology.

Other issues include safely coupling broadband data from the medium-voltage distribution lines to the low-voltage lines to the home. Schemes to overcome this include hanging a wireless box off the utility pole to provide wireless access to multiple subscribers.