BPL partnership dissolved

A BPL field trial in Menlo Park, California, where FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell had extolled the technology's virtues earlier this year, has been aborted before getting very far off the ground.

The demonstration of BPL technology was co-sponsored by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and AT&T.

ARRL learned this week that AT&T has decided to direct its business energies elsewhere, however, and pole-mounted BPL equipment has been dismantled. PG&E Director of Business Development Toby Tyler confirmed that his company and AT&T no longer were involved in the Menlo Park BPL pilot.

"AT&T pulled out as a result of their strategic shift away from consumer markets," Tyler told ARRL. "Without a telecom partner, it didn't make business sense for PG&E to continue with a trial."

AT&T spokesperson Michael Dickman said his company had "redirected its focus on serving enterprise customers," and, under the circumstances, has "limited involvement with BPL."

When Powell visited the Menlo Park BPL pilot project in July, he applauded AT&T and PG&E for "leading the way for this innovative technology" that he claimed "holds the great promise to bring high-speed Internet access to every power outlet in America." The chairman reiterated those sentiments October 14, when the FCC adopted new Part 15 rules to govern the deployment of BPL.

ARRL Santa Clara Valley Section Official Observer Coordinator Andy Korsak, KR6DD, told ARRL that AT&T pulled down the Main.net BPL boxes that he and his team had been monitoring in Menlo Park. "We heard only sparse Geiger counter-like clicks, indicating only perhaps system housekeeping between the four Main.net boxes I identified up on power poles," Korsak said.

When Powell spoke at Menlo Park this past summer, he said the future was bright for BPL. His optimism, at least in the case of the PG&E-AT&T BPL partnership, now appears to have been ill-advised.

Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The American Radio Relay League

Other recent stories..