David Sumner, CEO, American Radio Relay League (ARRL)

David Sumner, CEO of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), wrote a letter on December 10, 2004, to California Public Utilities Commissioner Susan Kennedy, in response to an interview she gave to Broadband over Power Line World on December 9th, in which she said "it's criminal that California does not have a major BPL [broadband over power line] pilot project or commercial project underway and I intend to do everything we can to change that."

Mr. Sumner spoke today with Broadband over Power Line World to make in greater detail the case he made in his letter to the Commissioner: that "it has yet to be demonstrated that BPL systems can be deployed without polluting the radio spectrum."

During that interview, Mr. Sumner repeatedly made the point that, under existing law and regulations, potential purveyors of broadband Internet connectivity over power lines (BPL) are not permitted to interfere with that part of the radio spectrum already being used by, among others, amateur radio operators to communicate among themselves.

You can listen to what Mr. Sumner had to say in that interview by clicking here.

After confirming the degree to which the membership of the ARRL is also heavy users of the broadband Internet, Mr. Sumner explained in detail the physics of BPL-generated RF interference with amateur radio transmissions; mitigation techniques for reducing this interference; the cost of such mitigation and the possible effect that that expense might have on the commercial viability of BPL; the role of the FCC in the regulation of BPL-generated interference; on-going efforts by ARRL to work with organizations such as the United Power Line Council (UPLC) to resolve BPL-generated interference issues; and the relative significance, going forward, of BPL-generated Internet access in comparison to that of fiber-optic access networks.