|
| |
FCC
On October 14, 2004, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to
facilitate the deployment of "Access BPL" -- i.e., use of BPL to deliver
broadband service to homes and businesses. The technical rules are more liberal
than those advanced by ARRL and other spectrum users, but include provisions
that require BPL providers to investigate and correct any interference they
cause. These rules may be subject to future litigation.
On August 8, 2006 FCC Adopts Memorandum Opinion and Order on Broadband Over
Power Lines giving the go-ahead to Promote Broadband Service to All Americans.
The order rejects calls from aviation, business, commercial, amateur radio and
other sectors of spectrum users to limit or prohibit deployment until further
study is completed. FCC chief Kevin Martin said that "holds great promise as a
ubiquitous broadband solution that would offer a viable alternative to cable,
digital subscriber line, fiber, and wireless broadband solutions," and that BPL
was one of the agency's "top priorities."
Deployment
South Africa: Goal Technology Solutions has trialled the technology and is
offering service in the suburbs of Pretoria with plans to extend coverage to
other areas. Based on a Mitsubishi chipset, the company claims a maximum
throughput of 90 Mbit/s although initially only "512ADSL equivalent speeds" are
available.
Portugal has recently ended BPL/PLC deployments in the country, reportedly for
economic reasons. , ,
Australia, Tasmania: In September 2005 electricity retailer Aurora Energy began
a commercial trial of the technology, offering BPL services to 500 homes in the
suburb of Tolmans Hill near Hobart. This followed a successful technological
trial earlier that year.
Canada, Quebec: 2005 PLC communication technology developed by Ariane Controlsis
being installed inside and outside existing building to control lights and other
energy hungry devices. ROI (return on investments) clearly shows that a lot of
energy, thus costs, can be save by adding low cost devices that allows to better
manage energy consumption.
United States: The United Telecom Council publishes the FCC-mandated
Interference Resolution Web site, which provides a list of all BPL deployments
in the US.
United States, Virginia: In October 2005 the city of Manassas began the first
wide-scale deployment of BPL service in the nation, offering 10 Mbit/s service
for under $30 USD per month to its 35,000 city residents, using MainNet BPL
technology. On June 16, 2006 FCC directed the Manassas BPL System to resolve
Amateurs' interference complaints. The FCC minced no words in detailing what it
wants the city and BPL operator COMTek to do to ensure its system complies with
Part 15 rules governing BPL systems and even hinted that it may shut down all or
part of the system.
United States: As of April 2007, Motorola has shuttered its Powerline LV Access
BPL and reportedly plans to re-purpose the technology to a new system called
Powerline MU, which is for use within multiple-unit dwellings. Motorola's system
uses only residential-side low-voltage power lines for transmission to reduce
the antenna effect, and has successfully demonstrated frequency-notching for
reduced potential for interference over the Amperion Inc. and Current
Technologies LLC systems. The American Radio Relay League was invited by
Motorola to participate with these tests, and even installed the Motorola system
at their headquarters. Preliminary results were very positive with regard to
interference because the Motorola system does not actually use BPL on the
powerlines leading up to the neighborhood. The BPL carrier is only used for the
last leg of the trip from the pole to the house and gets the signal to the pole
via radio. This cuts down the extremely disruptive interference along nearly the
entire length of the trip and instead limits the interference to the area
surrounding the last leg to the house.
BPL vendors such as Amperion Inc., Current Technologies LLC, Corinex, IBEC Inc.,
and InovaTech have deployed BPL systems in limited areas.
California approved a plan on April 27, 2006 allowing high-speed internet
providers to begin testing delivery of online access using power lines in the
state.
InovaTech has been particularly active throughout Asia Pacific and Oceania
regions with many successful trials in Australia, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong,
Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan. InovaTech has recently increased its focus to
include Europe, the Middle East and Africa where it has undertaken several
successful field trials and is believed to readying commercial operations in
several locations. InovaTech is also understood to have a long term trial
running in Russia. One of the most active solution providers, InovaTech is the
first vendor to develop an integrated offering which integrates
telecommunications and energy management capabilities.
Romania: In January 2006, in the rural locality of Band, Mure? County, a PLC
trial was introduced by the Ministry of Communications and Information
Technology, offering phone and broadband internet access for €7 per month. The
technology was introduced to 50 households. If successful, the technology will
be extended to other rural areas throughout Romania.
Hungary: The first Powerline service in Hungary was realized at September 2003
in the Riverside apartmenthouse in Budapest by 23Vnet Ltd. The PLC equipments
where supplied by ASCOM Powerline. After 4 months the service was counting 100
users from 450 apartment owners. The bandwidth is 4.5 Mbit/s.
Saudi Arabia: ElectroNet has been working with the Saudi Electric Company since
2005 on a Pilot Project using Broadband over Power Lines over Medium Voltage
Cables and linking into a Low Voltage distribution within a shopping Mall. The
Pilot Project also integrates Automatic Meter Readers. See
http://www.electronetonline.com for more detail.
SACMAC (Saudi Arabian Computer Management Consultants) has signed a deal to
become an official system Integrator and Distributor for Mitsubishi PLC. It is
expected to become a great successes considering that the existing broadband
serviced, monopolized by the Saudi Telecom Company, is slow, expensive and has
poor customer service (some clients report that company techs arrive months
after ordering). SACMAC has declined to talk about specifics regarding
availability and price but says it will start rolling out the service in a few
months (as of May 2006) and its price will be lower than current broadband
providers.
Spain: Iberdrola and Endesa the main power companies in Spain, stop their
projects to deploy PLC.
Ghana, West Africa: Cactel (Cactel Communications Ltd) successfully deployed an
MV solution pilot in the Graphic Communications Group in Accra (June 2005), an
REMS pilot for the Electricity company of Ghana (ECG) and is currently running a
40 user pilot at the University of Ghana in Legon. The current Pilot combines
fibre, radio link, Wi-fi and PLC to provide Broadband internet access and
telephony, It showcases the inter-operability of the PLC technology and the
company's expertise in emerging market design and deployment. Cactel's national
deployment aspirations are currently work in progress and the company is in
deliberations with the national stakeholders in conjunction with the Ministry of
Communications in Ghana (MoC). see http://www.cactel.com
Philippines is deploying Broadband over Power Lines nationwide as well.
| |
|
