ROSS WANTS NEW FCC STUDY OF BPL INTERFERENCE

摘要

Broadband over power line (BPL) companies are girding to fight HR-462 by Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), which would order a new FCC study of interference to licensed radio operations by BPL. Similar language in a 2006 telecom bill passed the House, startling the industry. Amateur radio association American Radio Relay League (ARRL), a critic of BPL deployments, expects Ross to have new clout as a majority member of the House Telecom Subcommittee, said CEO Dave Sumner. It抯 hard to say how much clout Ross gained, said Brett Kilbourne, regulatory dir. of the United Power Line Council. A 揷ertain amount of luck?got the BPL language in the telecom bill passed by the House last year, he said. Since then industry has been 揺ducating?those on the Hill and 搘hen we do that we have always have gotten a positive response.?br> nRoss抯 bill recognizes that BPL interference isn抰 a settled issue, said Sumner. He抯 confident BPL language will get to conference committee if attached to a major telecom bill, as in 2006, he said. NAB and MSTV backed the ARRL in U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., challenging the FCC rules. ARRL may or may not seek broadcaster support for the Ross bill, Sumner said. 揅oncerns that broadcasters have about BPL certainly... will lead to their being interested in this legislation,?he said. HR-462 is more specific than the 2006 measure defining what the FCC would have to study, he said.