The telecom industry may have not heard much about broadband over power line (BPL) lately, but the would-be challenger to the broadband title shared by DSL and cable modems is still hanging around. Currently, arguments are being heard from the American Radio Relay League and the Federal Communications Commission in a legal spat that could affect the future of BPL. The ARRL, which represents amateur radio operators, claims the FCC's rules governing BPL deployment, which the agency developed last year to spark more BPL activity, don't go far enough to insure BPL gear won't interfere with licensed radio transmissions.
Victory for the FCC in this case could prove critical to BPL, which lured a wave of new investment and start-up activity about two years ago in advance of the new FCC rules, but has yet to become widely adopted by utilities themselves. Oncor Electric Delivery, based in Texas, is believed to have the largest BPL deployment at about 130,000 homes passed, but good luck figuring out who rounds out the rest of the top five.
For more:
- See this CNET blog posting
Related articles:
- Read this BPL overview at FierceIPTV