NTIA FILES COMMENTS
WITH FCC ON
BROADBAND OVER POWER LINE SYSTEMS
Recommends Commission’s Rulemaking proceed without
delay
The Commerce Department’s National
Telecommunications and
Information Administration today filed comments with the Federal
Communications
Commission (FCC) providing technical guidance for the responsible
deployment of
broadband over power line (BPL) systems and urging the Commission to
complete
its BPL rulemaking proceeding without delay.
On April 26, President Bush called for
the establishment of
technical standards to make possible new broadband technologies such as
the use
of high speed communications directly over power lines.
On April 27, NTIA released a Phase One study
that examined the potential interference to federal government radio
systems
that could result from the deployment of BPL, and identified
appropriate techniques that will mitigate this interference.
Today’s comments
build upon the results of NTIA’s Phase One study by providing technical
analysis of the issues raised in the FCC’s BPL Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking
(NPRM). NTIA’s comments, together with
the rules proposed in the FCC’s NPRM will reduce the risk of
interference to
critical federal radiocommunication systems, and provide a firm
technical
foundation for the responsible deployment of BPL.
“The cooperative efforts of the FCC and
NTIA will contribute
significantly toward fulfillment of the President’s vision for
universal
affordable broadband Internet access for all Americans by 2007,” said
Acting
NTIA Administrator Michael D. Gallagher.
NTIA’s comments endorse the Commission’s
proposed field
strength limits and provide recommendations for reducing the risk of
interference to authorized radiocommunication systems. Specifically,
NTIA
recommends the use of mandatory power control, adoption of limited
coordination
areas and exclusion of critical frequency bands. NTIA
also made recommendations regarding refinements
to the FCC’s proposed compliance measurement procedures for BPL systems.
NTIA expects to complete its Phase Two
study later this year.
However, in order to quickly address issues that have an immediate
impact on
the FCC’s rulemaking, the most significant issues considered in the
comprehensive Phase Two study are provided in a technical appendix of
today’s filing.
NTIA expects its Phase Two study to complement any conclusions reached
by the
Commission and, therefore, recommends that the Commission’s rulemaking
proceed
without delay.
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