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Posted on 06/08/2004 8:03:03 PM PDT by Denver Ditdat
FCC Extends BPL Reply Comments Filing Deadline
NEWINGTON, CT, May 27, 2004--The FCC has extended the deadline to file reply comments in its broadband over power line (BPL) proceeding, ET Docket 04-37, from Tuesday, June 1, to Tuesday, June 22. The Commission released its BPL Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) February 23, and the initial comment deadline passed May 3. The FCC acted on a request from the National Antenna Consortium and the Amherst Alliance (NAC/Amherst) for a much longer filing deadline extension. The NAC/Amherst petition cited the anticipated release of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Phase 2 BPL study in making its request for a filing delay. The organizations said the FCC was not allowing stakeholders adequate time to prepare comments to address the two-part NTIA report on BPL interference. The FCC said the NTIA has indicated that it will submit comments and a technical appendix in the BPL proceeding this week. Those submissions are expected to contain key findings of the Phase 2 report, due to be released later this year.
"We believe that three weeks should provide ample time for review and analysis of this information, and accordingly grant the extension for that period," said FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Edmond J. Thomas, who signed the Order Granting Extension of Time released May 27. NAC/Amherst had sought to have the FCC postpone the filing comment deadline until either September 1 or two months after the public release of the NTIA's Phase 2 study--whichever was later. The FCC said the groups "presented no specific justification for such a longer time, nor is one evident to us." The FCC said the additional three weeks should be "ample time" to respond to the anticipated NTIA submission "as long as it is filed reasonably close to the anticipated date of May 28.
Noting that its Part 15 rules already permit Access BPL systems and that its BPL NPRM places additional requirements on BPL systems over and above what Part 15 already requires, the FCC said to further delay the proceeding would diminish the Commission's ability to protect licensed users now occupying the HF spectrum. In addition, the FCC said, a further extension "would needlessly increase regulatory uncertainty about this technology's promise to deliver broadband services" to US consumers.
The FCC Order turned down a request that the FCC reissue in a substantially more detailed form the provisions of its proposed BPL rules concerning interference prevention and mitigation and the enforcement of standards. The FCC said that NAC/Amherst provided no compelling reason nor did it suggest how the FCC's proposed rules were insufficiently described.
The FCC does not routinely grant such time extensions, and it denied earlier petitions, including filings from the ARRL and NAC/Amherst, to extend the initial comment filing deadline, which was May 3. The League and others said commenters needed more time to digest the NTIA's Part 1 BPL study, released April 27.
Earlier this year, FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell turned down a request by US Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI, to delay further action on the BPL proceeding until the NTIA study's had been released and stakeholders had had a chance to evaluate it before commenting.
Connecticut Attorney Don Schellhardt is a co-founder of The Amherst Alliance and served as its first national coordinator. He's the NAC's vice president for government relations and membership development and an associate ARRL member.
For more information on BPL, visit the "Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) and Amateur Radio" page on the ARRL Web site.
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Whenever I read stories like this, I get a fantasy...
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Yeah what you said *LOL*
bump!
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