FCC Endorses Broadband Over Powerline
The declaration places BPL-enabled access services on equal footing with cable modem and DSL Internet access services. The FCC has campaigned for BPL approval for years, although ham radio operators have long complained that BPL would interfere with its service.
By ruling BPL service's transmission component is "telecommunications," and an "information service," BPL will find it easier to deploy beyond the handful of networks that are currently scattered around the country, mostly in the Northeast.
"The Commission's broadband statistics show that subscribers to BPL Internet access services, although few in number overall, increased by nearly 200 percent in 2005," said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who has been a supporter of the technology. "By finding that BPL Internet access services are information services, the Commission provides the regulatory certainty necessary to foster competition between different broadband platform providers."