ARLA/CLUSTER: NOTÍCIAS DO PLC

[JOSE PROENÇA]

 Newspaper Reports "BPL plan is dead in Dallas"

The *Dallas Morning News* has
reported<http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-current_02bus.ART.State.Edition1.460d413.html>that
"an ambitious plan for using power lines to deliver fast Internet
service to 2 million Dallas-area homes collapsed Thursday." Current Group,
LLC has announced plans to sell its Dallas BPL network to Oncor, a regulated
electric distribution and transmission business, for $90 million. Oncor
reportedly has no plans to offer Internet service but will use the network
to detect distribution network issues. While Current originally touted the
network as a way to offer Internet service to consumers and had entered into
a marketing arrangement with DirecTV, the *Houston Chronicle
*quotes<http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/5747397.html>Oncor
spokesman Chris Schein as confirming that Oncor will use the network
only for monitoring the power grid: "Our business is delivering electricity,
not being an Internet provider or a television provider."

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, observed that "This
announcement underscores yet again that the Bush Administration made a
fundamental error in judgment when it erroneously identified BPL as a
potential 'third wire' delivering broadband to consumers. As the Court of
Appeals for the DC Circuit
determined<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/04/25/10064/?nc=1>last
week, the FCC then compounded the error by 'cherry-picking' from its
staff studies and ignoring other studies that proved the FCC was
underestimating the interference potential of BPL systems. One can only hope
that this latest marketplace failure of BPL will send a clear message that
the answer to expanding consumer broadband access lies with other, more
promising technologies that do not have such a potential to pollute the
radio spectrum."

ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, was quick to point out that BPL was
not going away in Dallas. According to Oncor Vice President Jim Greer, Oncor
will use the BPL network to spot grid problems to detect large power outages
before they affect customers. Oncor will not offer Internet service through
the system as Current had originally planned when they built it.

The ARRL has no issues with BPL as long as it does not cause harmful
interference to the amateur bands. Current's Dallas system is a good example
of that, Hare said, as it is "notched" so as not to interfere with the
Amateur Radio Service: "The Current system in Dallas is probably not causing
interference to ham radio. Their equipment doesn't use the ham bands. It is
also quiet except when in use. For meter reading and other utility
applications, nearby modems may make the occasional short burst of noise,
but not the cacophony of sound we hear with some other systems. You would
probably be able to tell that BPL is there if you tune outside the ham
bands. From an EMC perspective, what is needed now to complete this progress
are regulations and standards that match BPL's most successful models."

DirecTV customers who get Internet service through Current's network will
probably lose service when the deal goes through. "Oncor is not in the
telecommunications business, and it has no plans to get into the
telecommunications business," said Schein.

Dallas and Houston are the only metropolitan areas in Texas with BPL. In the
past, the City of Austin looked at incorporating a BPL system in their
community, but decided not to do so. In a
report<http://p1k.arrl.org/~ehare/bpl/coaae_BPL_Final_Report.pdf>on
how the BPL trial it undertook worked for them, the City of Austin
summarized its reasons for that decision.

-- 
CT2HIV
José A. Proença
IM58KP
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