[ARRL-OK] FCC Extends BPL Filing - Eddie K5EMS

[Eddie Manley]

      FCC Extends BPL Reply Comments Filing Deadline

NEWINGTON, CT, May 27, 2004--The FCC has extended the deadline to file 
reply comments in its broadband over power line (BPL) proceeding, ET 
Docket 04-37, from Tuesday, June 1, to Tuesday, June 22. The Commission 
released its BPL Notice of Proposed Rule Making 
<http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6515783486> 
(NPRM) February 23, and the initial comment deadline passed May 3. The 
FCC acted on a request from the National Antenna Consortium 
<http://www.antenna-consortium.org/> and the Amherst Alliance 
<http://www.amherstalliance.org/> (NAC/Amherst) for a much longer filing 
deadline extension. The NAC/Amherst petition cited the anticipated 
release of the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration (NTIA) Phase 2 BPL study in making its request for a 
filing delay. The organizations said the FCC was not allowing 
stakeholders adequate time to prepare comments to address the two-part 
NTIA report on BPL interference. The FCC said the NTIA has indicated 
that it will submit comments and a technical appendix in the BPL 
proceeding this week. Those submissions are expected to contain key 
findings of the Phase 2 report, due to be released later this year.

"We believe that three weeks should provide ample time for review and 
analysis of this information, and accordingly grant the extension for 
that period," said FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Edmond 
J. Thomas, who signed the Order Granting Extension of Time 
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-04-1552A1.doc> 
released May 27. NAC/Amherst had sought to have the FCC postpone the 
filing comment deadline until either September 1 or two months after the 
public release of the NTIA's Phase 2 study--whichever was later. The FCC 
said the groups "presented no specific justification for such a longer 
time, nor is one evident to us." The FCC said the additional three weeks 
should be "ample time" to respond to the anticipated NTIA submission "as 
long as it is filed reasonably close to the anticipated date of May 28.

Noting that its Part 15 rules already permit Access BPL systems and that 
its BPL NPRM places additional requirements on BPL systems over and 
above what Part 15 already requires, the FCC said to further delay the 
proceeding would diminish the Commission's ability to protect licensed 
users now occupying the HF spectrum. In addition, the FCC said, a 
further extension "would needlessly increase regulatory uncertainty 
about this technology's promise to deliver broadband services" to US 
consumers.

The FCC Order turned down a request that the FCC reissue in a 
substantially more detailed form the provisions of its proposed BPL 
rules concerning interference prevention and mitigation and the 
enforcement of standards. The FCC said that NAC/Amherst provided no 
compelling reason nor did it suggest how the FCC's proposed rules were 
insufficiently described.

The FCC does not routinely grant such time extensions, and it denied 
earlier petitions, including filings from the ARRL and NAC/Amherst, to 
extend the initial comment filing deadline, which was May 3. The League 
and others said commenters needed more time to digest the NTIA's Part 1 
BPL study 
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/2004/bpl/index.html>, 
released April 27.

Earlier this year, FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell turned down a request 
by US Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI, to delay further action on the BPL 
proceeding until the NTIA study's had been released and stakeholders had 
had a chance to evaluate it before commenting.

Connecticut Attorney Don Schellhardt is a co-founder of The Amherst 
Alliance and served as its first national coordinator. He's the NAC's 
vice president for government relations and membership development and 
an associate ARRL member.

For more information on BPL, visit the "Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) 
and Amateur Radio" page <http://www.arrl.org/bpl/> on the ARRL Web site.