Doug, even without BPL, utilities have a significant interest in rural broadband deployment--utility poles provide an infrastructure on which to hang cable and coax, and utilities are compensated for pole attachments. So UTC's reaction is not surprising. I agree that this bears watching, but I've not seen any life from domestic BPL proponents lately, and the regulators who used to cheerlead for the technology have moved on to other things. In fact, International Bureau staff last year accommodated an ARRL request to affirm that the protection criteria recommended by the ITU for radio services impacted by BPL really were protection criteria, at least for the BPL case. Said the responsible staffer, more or less, "Suffice it to say we don't want to refight the BPL battle." This concession would not have happened five years ago. 73 de Brennan N4QX Brennan T. Price, N4QX Chief Technology Officer American Radio Relay League 3545 Chain Bridge Rd Ste 209 Fairfax VA 22030-2708 Tel +1 703 934-2077 Fax +1 703 934-2079 ________________________________________ From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] on behalf of Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2014 13:56 To: Rehman, Doug, K4AC; arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:22402] Re: Another Run At BPL? Doug, I have not yet carefully read the entire 144-page document (attached), but based on a key word search I don’t see anything that would encourage a re-emergence of BPL. BPL is an experiment that has already failed, and even its most enthusiastic proponents wouldn’t claim that it is reliable, robust, or capable of meeting current expectations for transmission speeds. That said, there is no shortage of people willing to chase federal funding for ill-conceived projects, so it will bear watching. 73, Dave K1ZZ From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Rehman, Doug, K4AC Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2014 11:32 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:22397] Another Run At BPL? I received the following from a member: "The Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) applauds a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report and order regarding IP technology transitions and commends the work of UTC Members in supporting the need to extend affordable, reliable and robust broadband access to underserved and unserved citizens in rural markets. The report and order adopted by the FCC on January 30, 2014 will create new opportunities for utilities to access funding already allocated to supporting the growth of broadband infrastructure. Utilities serving these markets are uniquely capable of providing these services by utilizing existing infrastructure and right-of-ways, proven abilities in making investment decisions on rural infrastructure timelines and established relationships with their customers, members and community leaders. In support of this issue, the UTC has formed the Rural Broadband Council (RBC), an independent operating unit of the UTC. As explained by the FCC in its news release describing the report and order, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry (FCC 14-5), the commission is launching a broad set of voluntary experiments — including targeted experiments and cooperative research to focus on ways to deliver robust broadband to rural areas. These experiments will explore the impact on specific values, including universal access and competition, and are meant to ensure that the nation’s communications networks continue to provide the services consumers want and need in this era of historic technological transformations. The funding for these experiments will be drawn from the Connect America Fund and the budget and the selection criteria will be determined as part of the notice of proposed rulemaking." Thanks & 73, Doug Doug Rehman, K4AC Director Southeastern Division ARRL—The National Association for Amateur Radio® doug@k4ac.com<mailto:doug@k4ac.com> www.arrlse.org<http://www.arrlse.org/> www.facebook.com/arrlse<http://www.facebook.com/arrlse>