FCC Expected to Classify BPL as Information Service
The FCC is expected to grant most of the BPL industry’s requests when it votes Aug. 3 on reconsideration petitions and a petition for a declaratory ruling that BPL is an information service, industry sources said. The 2 BPL items on the agenda, to be released today (Thurs.) “both look good at this point in terms of what we expect the outcome will be,” said an industry executive.
“The recon[sideration] petitions filed by the anti-BPL forces will be denied,” said an industry source. Pleading ignorance about FCC intentions but saying such a proindustry ruling wouldn’t be “surprising,” an attorney for amateur radio said a legal challenge is in the cards if the FCC doesn’t address interference concerns.
On the industry’s request that the Commission allow BPL operators to continue to deploy equipment bought before the July 7 certification deadline, “I expect the FCC to allow the industry to continue to use the equipment with the understanding that we continue not to cause any interference,” said an industry official: “It’s a reasonable accommodation that works for everyone involved.” The industry recently modified its request on the subject, said another source: “It limits the request for relief, and I think we are going to get the limited relief we are asking for.”
Prospects aren’t as good for the industry request that the Commission eliminate its requirement for BPL operators to post information about planned deployments 30 days in advance in a public database, sources said. The industry had opposed the requirement citing concerns about tipping off competitors to cut prices or roll out services in areas targeted for BPL deployments. “I think we are not going to get that,” said a source: “It’s still up in the air. We are still working on that one.”
On the classification petition, the source said he expects the FCC to rule that BPL is an information service and subject VoIP over BPL, as over other broadband, to CALEA, E911 and Universal Service Fund requirements. With the Commission granting cable and DSL information service status, said one executive, “it would have taken a lot for the FCC to rule differently” on BPL.
Ham radio hopes the FCC will adopt 2 rules proposed by ARRL in a petition for further notice of rulemaking it filed last Oct., said Chris Imlay, attorney for the American Radio Relay League. The group wants the FCC to disallow HF on overhead medium voltage lines and bar use of amateur bands in underground BPL lines and in drops from the poles to customer premises. “If the two elements of what we proposed were added to the existing BPL rules that would essentially fix our problem,” said Imlay: “Amateurs aren’t opposed to BPL. We are opposed to BPL interference.”
He said he isn’t surprised that the FCC leans toward granting industry petitions and denying ham radio requests. But, he said, “if there isn’t any accommodation for the interference that’s well established to be out there, then certainly we are going to have to examine the judicial appeal.”