FCC lumps broadband over power lines with DSL, cable modem services

Loosening of regulations could give BPL a boost, supporters say.

The FCC reclassified broadband over power lines (BPL) as an information service at its open meeting Friday.

The change puts BPL services on “a regulatory level playing field,” with DSL and cable modem services, said FCC chairman Kevin Martin.

The FCC was expected to make the change in an effort to increase competition and also meet a Department of Homeland Security mandate that calls for national infrastructure redundancy, commissioners said.

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The FCC reclassified broadband over power lines (BPL) as an information service at its open meeting Friday.

The change puts BPL services on “a regulatory level playing field,” with DSL and cable modem services, said FCC chairman Kevin Martin.

The FCC was expected to make the change in an effort to increase competition and also meet a Department of Homeland Security mandate that calls for national infrastructure redundancy, commissioners said.

The decision follows the United Power Line Council’s petition, which was filed in December, requesting a declaratory ruling on how BPL services should be classified.

Services that are classified as information services are essentially unregulated. UPLC says the move gives BPL a more certain future, because investors do not have to worry about some rules and regulations that could impede growth.

BPL services use existing electric infrastructure to transmit data through radio-frequency energy that uses different frequencies than electric current, allowing data and electricity to run over the same line, according the Telecommunication Industry Association’s 2006 Telecommunications Market Review and Forecast.

Commissioner Michael Copps said he hopes the FCC’s decision gives BPL services a “boost” and will further aid in service rollouts and consumer adoption. Only a handful of providers now offer BPL services. Some of the more notable include Current Communications, Central Virginia Electric Cooperative and International Broadband Electric Communications.

Today BPL represents a small number of broadband users, but the TIA predicts there will be 600,000 BPL users by 2009.

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