Brett Kilbourne, Director of Regulatory Services and Associate Counsel, United Power Line Council

The United Power Line Council (UPLC) is the trade association of electric power companies involved in the provision of broadband over power line (BPL) Internet connectivity, either to themselves for internal monitoring functions, or to business and/or residential customers for their use. The slogan of UPLC is "Driving the Development of Broadband Over Power Line Solutions for Electric Utilities and Their Partners."

The BPL industry has been involved over the last year in a number of disagreements with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the main association of amateur radio operators in the U.S., and some of its members and chapters, over the issue of radio frequency interference (RFI), which the ARRL says is seriously interfering with the ability of its members to operate their FCC-licensed amateur radio stations and which the UPLC says isn't and, if it is, can and will be mitigated by the companies deploying BPL technology.

Many previous articles about these disputes can be found on the Broadband over Power Line World web site.

In two recent press releases, the UPLC has reported on new filings by it to the FCC regarding possible changes to the October 14, 2004, "Report and Order" from the FCC which opened the current round of BPL deployments and complaints about these deployments.

You can read these press releases on the UPLC web site.

Brett Kilbourne, Director of Regulatory Affairs at the UPLC, spoke today with Broadband over Power Line World about the content of these filings and in general about the relationship between complaints about RFI and the deployment of BPL.

You can listen to that interview in its entirety by clicking here.

By way of clarification, Mr. Kilbourne provided Broadband over Power Line World with this statement regarding UPLC's proposed extension of certification deadlines:

"The deadline for equipment certification is July 7, 2006 and we have asked that the deadline be extended only in so far as it applies to equipment that is marketed or installed and only for an additional 18 months.  If the FCC grants our request, equipment that is manufactured or imported will need to be certified by July 7, 2006 and equipment that is marketed or installed will need to be certified by January 7, 2008."

You can listen to previous Broadband over Power Line World interviews with Brett Kilbourne by clicking on their dates: November 30, 2004, January 13, 2005