FCC Fosters Commercial BPL
UPLC Applauds Decision to Classify BPL Internet Services As Information Services

Washington, DC –

The United Power Line Council (UPLC) hailed today’s action by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that provides regulatory certainty for Broadband over Power Line (BPL) Internet services, which will encourage investment in BPL and deployment of broadband services to consumers.

The FCC granted the UPLC’s petition for declaratory ruling to classify BPL Internet access services as an information service, subject to FCC Title I jurisdiction. In so doing, the FCC promotes broadband competition with cable modem and DSL, which the FCC already classified as information services. In addition to providing a level regulatory playing field, the decision also provides regulatory certainty for BPL providers, as they begin to offer commercial services on a wide scale basis. Today’s decision will encourage the deployment of BPL systems by limiting regulation of BPL services. This will promote broadband access
to rural and underserved consumers that currently can't get or afford broadband. The deployment of BPL also provides benefits for homeland security, creating a third broadband platform that will promote network reliability and redundancy.

The UPLC appreciates the support of the FCC in granting its petition for declaratory ruling. It is pleased that the FCC has acted and it looks forward to reviewing the details of the decision, after the Order is released.

United Power Line Council

The United Power Line Council (UPLC) is an independent operating unit of the United Telecom Council (UTC). Utilities and their technology provider partners have joined to form the UPLC in order to drive the development of broadband over power line solutions in North America. The UPLC's efforts are focused in three strategic areas: market awareness, regulatory and legislative advocacy, and technical operability. The UPLC is an evolution of UTC's Power Line Telecom Forum(PLTF) that was created in 1998 as the source for information and advocacy in North America for this nascent industry. Additional information is available about the UPLC and UTC at www.uplc.org [2] and www.utc.org [3].