UPLC news update: FCC: CHAIRMAN MARTIN TOURS BPL SITE IN TEXAS

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

FCC: CHAIRMAN MARTIN TOURS BPL SITE IN TEXAS

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and the rest of the FCC Commissioners visited a BPL site near Dallas, Texas where Current Technologies and TXU have announced they will roll out BPL commercially to two million homes. The demonstration by Current Technologies and TXU included voice, video, enhanced utility applications as well as broadband Internet. Chairman Martin and the other Commissioners were in Texas for a FCC meeting that focused on the state of video competition, and requested the tour of the BPL deployment in Dallas while in the area. Not surprisingly, the Commissioners questioned Current Technologies about its plans to offer video in its commercial deployment. They also tested applications such as VoIP and also asked the utility about its plans to use BPL to improve international operations.

FCC: UPLC/UTILITIES SUPPORT CLASSIFYING BPL
AS INFORMATION SERVICE; OTHERS OPPOSE

The UPLC filed extensive comments the week of February 13, 2006 in support of its Petition for Declaratory Ruling that BPL is an information service, free from common carrier regulation. The UPLC reiterated that BPL is functionally similar to cable modem and DSL services that have been classified already as information services. It also explained that the public interest would be served, as it would promote competition and access in the broadband market and encourage innovation and investment in deployment and development. Comments in support also were filed by utilities and their affiliates, including Cinergy Broadband, Duke, First Communications, Progress Energy and San Diego Gas & Electric. These comments generally supported classifying BPL as an information service, and agreed that it would promote the public interest in broadband access and competition, as well as in electric service reliability. Other comments in support of the UPLC petition were filed by TIA and Panasonic, although Panasonic asked that the FCC address the issue of coexistence between access and in-premises BPL. Meanwhile, there were comments in opposition filed by Comptel, the Florida Cable and Telecommunications Association, NextG Networks, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association and Virtual Hipster. These comments raised issues that are generally irrelevant to the petition or are intended to delay BPL competition. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the New Jersey Division of Ratepayer Advocate filed comments that suggest that the Commission defer action pending the resolution of other proceedings or until BPL technology is more mature. Reply comments are due February 27, 2006 and members are encouraged to file. For more information, contact the UPLC Legal/Regulatory Department.