UPLC PowerLine March 18, 2008

COURTS: NEBRASKA CAN'T COLLECT USF FROM VONAGE

In a decision that further limits state jurisdiction over VoIP services, a federal court held that the Nebraska Public Utility Commission (PUC) may not require Vonage to pay into the state's universal service fund (USF). The court found that the FCC has preempted state jurisdiction to regulate nomadic interconnected VoIP services like Vonage's. The decision was based on a 2004 FCC order saying the FCC, and not the states, should decide what regulations apply to Vonage. The court also said that its decision was consistent with Congress's intent to deregulate Internet services generally. The court also noted that as a practical matter, it is impossible to distinguish interstate VoIP traffic that is subject to federal jurisdiction from intrastate VoIP traffic. The Nebraska PUC had claimed that it could separate local from long distance VoIP traffic (and hence assess USF against the local traffic), based on a FCC decision in June 2006 which established a "safe harbor" under which 64.9% of VoIP traffic is subject to federal USF charges. Nebraska argued that the remainder could be subject to state USF charges. However, the district court said, "[t]he safe-harbor ruling does not negate the fact that there is no way to distinguish between interstate and intrastate [VoIP] service; nor does the adoption of safe harbor rules affect the characterization of VoIP service as an information service." The decision is expected to be appealed by the states which are concerned that VoIP will undermine state USF subsidies, even though VoIP is subject to federal USF charges. For more information, contact the UPLC Legal/Regulatory Department.

IEEE: BPL MAC/PHY GROUP DEFERS CONFIRMATION VOTE ON
ACCESS/IN-HOME/COEXISTENCE PROPOSALS

The IEEE's P1901 Working Group, which is developing standards for the MAC and PHY of Broadband over Power Line systems, decided to defer from voting on the confirmation of standards for Access and In-Home BPL systems that were proposed by HomePlug and Panasonic and adopted last year. Instead, the standards will be revised and drafts will be distributed in April. Moreover, a confirmation vote will be held at the July meeting on the distributed documents. These deadlines are important commitments to ensure that progress is made in the standards process. In addition, Panasonic went on record to state its willingness to merge the two MACs that are part of the current draft standard. It remains unclear whether HomePlug will also commit to merging the MACs; but the issue will be decided by their board soon. Still, HomePlug did indicate that it would permit representatives from the Access BPL industry to help provide input on the development of the revised draft standard. The Access BPL industry has proposed various features and functionalities to be incorporated into the draft standard in order to support Access BPL systems. But none of these features and functionalities have been incorporated into the draft standard yet. Access BPL companies hope that HomePlug/Panasonic will actually incorporate those features and functionalities, now that there is more transparency to the process.

In other developments: the P1901 group voted to adopt a coexistence proposal by CEPCA and Hi-Silicon, and to eliminate a coexistence proposal by CECPA and UPA. The coexistence proposal must still be confirmed, and it will be voted on at the July meeting. For more information on the IEEE P1901 MAC/PHY standards and the latest results from its meetings, contact the UPLC Legal/Regulatory Department.

INDUSTRY: XCEL ENERGY PICKS BOULDER, CO AS ITS
SMART GRID CITY

Xcel Energy announced last week that Boulder, CO will be its Smart Grid City. The announcement follows it's unveiling in January of a bold plan to use BPL and other technologies to enable advanced metering, distributed generation, and smart substations in a city with a population of approximately 100,000 over the next five years. Xcel is working with a Smart Grid Consortium on the project. Consortium members include Accenture, Current Group, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and Ventyx.

With the city now selected, Xcel Energy and its Smart Grid Consortium will spend the next four weeks to six weeks studying the city's electricity infrastructure to develop a scope and preliminary design plan for implementing the changes. Work would start soon after. The first phase of the Smart Grid City is expected to be in place by as early as August 2008, with implementation throughout the city continuing through 2009 at which time the consortium expects to begin an initial assessment of the technologies. After initial implementation, Xcel Energy will use the results to talk with state, federal and regulatory officials about a larger deployment throughout the company's eight-state service territory. Xcel Energy also unveiled a Smart Grid Consortium Web site at www.xcelenergy.com/smartgrid, which has graphics and educational materials explaining its Smart Grid vision.

INDUSTRY: PRINCETON COMMERCIAL BPL DEPLOYMENT ALMOST COMPLETE

By the end of March, the city of Princeton, IL should complete its commercial BPL deployment, according to the Journal Star. The city began installing hardware in late 2005 to provide Internet service to a limited number of residents to test the technology and began a full-scale roll-out in 2006.

Jason Bird, superintendent of Princeton's electric department, said the final quadrant of the city should be covered by the end of the month. "We'll have the entire town covered where if someone wanted service, we'd be able to hook it up right away or within a day," Bird said.

Bird added that, so far, interference fears have not been realized. When the city first announced that it intended to install the largely experimental technology, some amateur radio operators complained that interference from service could disrupt radio signals. An inquiry from the FCC ensued, but that resulted in regulatory approval of equipment modifications meant to prevent interference that was fiercely contested. More than a year later, Bird says no radio operators have complained.

The BPL service relies on 22 miles of fiber optic cable laid around Princeton to deliver Internet to transmitters that carry the signal over power lines to businesses and private residences with speeds similar to that of DSL service but slower than advertised data transfer rates for broadband service through cable companies.

While the city's electric department has installed and maintained the hardware for the system, it contracts with Connecting Point in Peru to provide Internet service and software and handle other day-to-day business matters. Princeton residents currently pay $24.99 per month, and a portion of those charges goes the city.

Steve Brust, vice president of Connecting Point, said more than 100 customers have signed on for BPL in Princeton and use it for the same purposes that customers of other Internet service providers use high-speed connections. "People are using it for telephone service, for gaming, for all different things," he said.