UTILITIES OPPOSE PUBLIC BROADBAND OVER POWER LINE DATABASE

The broadband over power line (BPL) industry opposed as “unduly burdensome and unnecessary,” the FCC’s proposal to require that BPL operators develop and maintain a public database on the location, operational frequencies and modulation type of BPL systems. Its purpose would be to speed resolution of interference issues (CD Feb 13 p9). DSL and cable modem operators aren’t subject to notification and database requirements, and that would put BPL at a competitive disadvantage, the Power Line Communications Assn. (PLCA) said in comments on the FCC’s rulemaking on changes to its Part 15 rules to promote BPL. The United Power Line Council (UPLC) said utilities were concerned about disclosure of what could be considered “protected critical infrastructure information” under the Homeland Security Act. Meanwhile, public safety groups called for a year-long, industry-funded demonstration that BPL systems cause no or only rare interference.

Compliance would be so burdensome, PLCA said, that it would prevent BPL operators from providing a truly competitive services: “Placing such a burden on access BPL modems would place them at a deployment and marketing disadvantage, since customers will balk at the prospect of having their home address and the presence of their broadband equipment listed in a publicly accessible database.” PLCA contended that like DSL and cable modems, BPL would be subject to the emission requirements of Part 15 rules.

The costs of maintaining such a database would have to be borne by the industry and ultimately passed on to the customer, the PLCA said. “This is a cost that is not borne by cable modems and DSL modems, and this additional cost associated with access BPL equipment will place service providers at an additional disadvantage.” The NPRM’s other proposed requirement on BPL -- to employ adaptive interference mitigation techniques, including power reduction, frequency modification and even shut-down -- is “far more” than required of cable modems and DSL, it said: “This requirement, in conjunction with other Part 15 requirements, ought to be more than enough to prevent harmful interference.”

UPLC said information from the proposed database could be used for “malicious purposes that might impair utility operations. There are also legitimate competitive concerns over disclosure of “extensive” information about deployments, it said. Neither cable modem nor DSL providers are required to disclose such information and could use information about BPL to gain unfair advantage, it said. UPLC proposed limiting disclosure of the information in the database, compared to what the FCC proposed, and offered to maintain the database itself, as the appropriate industry-operated entity. It said it supported the proposal to retain the existing emission limits, as well as proposed measurement guidelines.

No comprehensive test has validated the Commission’s stated belief that the risk of harmful interference to public safety systems is low, the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) said in a joint filing. They said measures proposed by the FCC to mitigate harmful interference to public safety systems will be implemented only after interference occurs. Also, the burden of identifying the cases of interference is placed on the public safety user. “Considering the rural nature of the public safety operations in the VHF low bands, the only way a public safety agency will know that interference is present in a given location will be when an officer cannot communicate in that area.” This would compromise the safety of both officers and the public they serve, the groups said.

The public safety groups said the Commission should ask the BPL industry to fund a year-long “demonstration system of sufficient scale” to prove that harmful interference to public safety and amateur radio operators will be rare. They said they could find no “real world demonstration” that conclusively shows that BPL systems will rarely or never cause interference to public safety. The groups conceded that their recommendation would raise concerns about delaying the deployment of the new technology. But they pointed out that public safety users had been waiting since 1996 for use of 24 MHz of spectrum and the new wideband data technologies promised in the 700 MHz band. “A one year delay [of BPL] that allows proof of rare or no interference seems to us to be a small price.”

The NCTA said the introduction of commercial broadband services such as BPL strengthens the case for regulating all broadband services with a “light touch.” The advent of BPL would make the competitive broadband market even more competitive, it said, and urged that the FCC take into account the “anticipated competitive impact” of BPL while it considers approaches for overseeing cable modem service and other high-speed Internet offerings. The Commission should also ensure that BPL didn’t cause interference to existing communications systems, including cable, and take steps to reduce such risks. The NCTA contended that arrival of BPL would give utilities incentives to “employ poles, ducts, conduits and rights-of-way under their ownership or control in ways that would disadvantage competitors dependent on pole attachments.” Saying the Commission should increase scrutiny of utility practices relating to provision of poles, ducts, conduits and rights of way to cable, the Assn. urged the agency to “provide the resources necessary to oversee any such issues that may arise from the telecommunications activities of utilities.”

Saying it “strongly favored” broadband competition, BellSouth called for elimination of “asymmetrical” regulation applied currently only to Bell operating companies. This asymmetrical regulation, it said, “impedes the deployment of resources for broadband services, which in turn prevents growth and hinders optimal pricing of these services.” Because of the limited experience with BPL, BellSouth said it saw only a few possible problems and it backed the Commission’s approach of proceeding “cautiously” by monitoring BPL provision.

Calling the FCC’s proceedings “ill-timed” and a “rush to judgment,” the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) urged the Commission not to proceed with rules for BPL until further evaluation of possible interference to licensed services. It pointed out that the NTIA had only late last month released the first phase of its investigation of interference issues and had planned further research. “The Commission cannot be in such a hurry to deploy BPL as a potentially competitive broadband delivery mechanism that it must sweep under the rug the mounting evidence the BPL is a significant source of interference to licensed radio services and is not in the public interest.”

The American Public Power Assn. (APPA) said it had serious concerns about the proposed public database of BPL consumers, manufacturers and location of BPL installations and the operating characteristics of the systems. Besides being “ambiguous,” the FCC’s proposal also raises serious privacy and national security issues, it said. It would make proprietary data available to other incumbent broadband providers and potentially subject public power utility customers to “harassment by individuals who believe their Internet access is causing harmful interference.” It said terrorists and others looking to cause harm might be able to access the database of critical infrastructure information and disrupt electric service. APPA also urged the Commission to state that restrictions on municipal provision of BPL services weren’t prohibited because the Telecom Act provides the FCC authority to preempt any state restrictions.