Ham radio's message about potential interference from Broadband over Power Lines, or BPL, was heard loud and clear at the top echelons of the FCC, but the commissioners' concerns about interference were not great enough to persuade them to block adoption of new rules designed to encourage the deployment of BPL around the country. When the FCC adopted its new BPL rules on October 14, it said its main purpose in implementing the rules was "to encourage the development of Access Broadband over Power Line (Access BPL) systems while safeguarding existing licensed services against harmful interference," and indeed, the rules do provide certain protections and requirements that had been opposed by the BPL industry. In fact, the new rules are considerably more restrictive than what was previously on the books, so it was at least a partial victory for hams and others who would be adversely affected by interference from an essentially unregulated BPL service.
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