FCC to study broadband over power lines

The FCC today approved a notice of inquiry to study whether and how broadband services over power lines should be regulated. FCC Chairman Michael Powell, long a proponent of the technology as a means of accelerating broadband deployments nationwide, particularly to high-cost areas, said such services could be available to U.S. customers later this year.

Powell received a demonstration of the technology about two weeks ago, conducted by Current Technologies, in a Potomac, Md., home. Current Technologies, headquartered in Germantown, Md., and one of several companies that have developed a version of the technology, expects to offer service commercially beginning in the fall. The company has been conducting technology trials for nearly a year in Potomac and Cincinnati.

In the company’s system, the electrical current is carried by a medium-voltage line to a point near the customer premises, where the data signal is converted to be carried via a low-voltage line or via a Wi-Fi signal into the premises. Because the electricity and data signal operate on different frequencies, there are no interference problems.

A power line modem, which can be plugged into any outlet in the home, distributes the data signal to the customer’s computer if it comes into the premises via the wall jack. These modems can be purchased at retail outlets. A Wi-Fi antenna is used to capture the signal if it enters via wireless. The signal can be handed from the power line infrastructure to any high-capacity transport media – such as optical fiber or T-1 lines – at any distribution point.

With more than 18 million miles of electrical lines strung or buried nationwide, the ability to reach virtually every business and home in the U.S., and transport speeds that are as much as four times faster than cable modem or digital subscriber line services, broadband over power lines has the potential to pose a serious competitive threat.

That is a matter of concern for the telcos, largely because many believe broadband over power lines would be an unregulated service. For that reason, DSL services should also be completely deregulated, said Herschel Abbott, vice president – governmental affairs for Bell South.

“Simply put, regulation cannot keep pace with the speed of technological change,” Abbott said. “The consumer will be better served by a regulatory hands-off approach so that innovation, productivity gains price competition and job creation can flourish.”

Walter McCormick, president of the U.S. Telecom Association, echoed Abbott’s concerns, calling broadband over power lines a “rapidly evolving technology” that will bring more competition to an already highly competitive market.

“The FCC must act soon to ensure that broadband competition is not undermined by unevenly applied regulations,” McCormick said. “When all broadband platforms are allowed to operate under the same rules, consumers will see increasing benefits from a vibrant, innovative and competitive broadband market.”