Subject: [NEXTEL-1] ARRL Rebukes FCC Commissioner's "Broadband Nirvana" Remarks

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 07:27:24 -0400

From: "ARRL Letter Mailing List"
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 19:00:16 -0400
Subject: The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 38

***************
IN THIS EDITION:

==>ARRL REBUKES FCC COMMISSIONER'S "BROADBAND NIRVANA" REMARKS

The ARRL has strongly objected to FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q.
Abernathy's
suggestion that Broadband over Power Line (BPL) technology will
contribute
to what she described as "broadband Nirvana." Addressing the United
Powerline Council's annual conference September 22 in Arlington,
Virginia,
Abernathy expressed unabashed enthusiasm for BPL and recommended a
combination of regulatory restraint and the elimination or substantial
modification of existing rules as steps along the "path to
Enlightenment,"
as she put it. In a terse response faxed September 25 on behalf of the
League's 155,000 members, ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner,
K1ZZ,
asserted that Abernathy overlooked some significant issues in her Nirvana
analogy.

"Nightmare is more like it," Sumner declared. "The technical showings
submitted by the ARRL and others in response to the Commission's Notice
of
Inquiry (NOI) in ET Docket No. 03-104 clearly establish that BPL is a
significant source of radio spectrum pollution. It cannot be implemented
without causing harmful interference to over-the-air radio services."

Sumner told Abernathy that while BPL industry groups, such as the one she
addressed this week, prefer to deny the evidence, the FCC is obliged to
work to a higher standard.

In its comments in response to the FCC NOI, the League characterized BPL
as "a Pandora's Box of unprecedented proportions" and said the
Commission's Part 15 rules "should be modified so as to prevent
interference to users of the HF and low VHF spectrum" from the outset.

Abernathy's speech, "Reaching Broadband Nirvana," never broached the
topic
of BPL's potential to interfere with other radio services. Recently, the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov>--which regulates spectrum allocated to federal
government users--expressed "broad concerns" about interference to
government users and launched an extensive modeling, analysis and
measurement program for BPL. In his letter, Sumner reminded Abernathy
that
the radio spectrum is a precious natural resource.

"To squander that resource simply to add a redundant, unnecessary, and
relatively poorly performing 'last mile' connection for consumers, is
unconscionable," he said. Sumner expressed the hope that Abernathy will
give the League an early opportunity to explain its BPL concerns to her
in
person.

In her remarks to the UPLC gathering, Abernathy contended that it's been
regulatory restraint rather than heavy-handed regulation that has allowed
nascent platforms such as direct broadcast satellite (DBS) to become
competitively viable. "When the Commission completes this rulemaking,"
she
said, "I expect that we will eliminate many existing rules and
substantially modify others; the central question is the degree of
regulation that will remain during the transition to a more robustly
competitive market."

Individuals may e-mail Abernathy via her FCC Web site
<http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/abernathy/mail.html> or directly
<[email-masked]>. The text of her prepared remarks also is available on
the FCC Web site
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-239079A1.doc>.

The League's initial 120-page package of comments and technical exhibits
<http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/et03-104/> and its reply
comments
<http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/et03-104/reply-comments-index.ht
m
l> are available on the ARRL Web site. Additional information and BPL
video clips are on the ARRL "Power Line Communications (PLC) and Amateur
Radio" page <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/>.

To support the League's efforts in this area, visit the ARRL's secure BPL
Web site <https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/>.

To date, more than 4600 comments--many from the Amateur Radio
community--have been filed in response to the FCC's BPL NOI. They are
available for viewing via the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System
(ECFS) <http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/>.

===========================

The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the 
American Radio Relay League--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111
tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259;
<http://www.arrl.org>. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President.

Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole
or
in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be given
to
The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.

==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, <[email-masked]>

==>How to Get The ARRL Letter
The ARRL Letter is available to ARRL members free of charge directly from
ARRL HQ.  <http://www.arrl.org>

The ARRL Letter also is available to all, free of charge, from these
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* The QTH.net listserver, thanks to volunteers from the Boston Amateur
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