Subject: [NEXTEL-1] RE: FCC Commish- Kathleen Q. Abernathy Sucks It Up- Apologizes

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 17:47:13 -0500

"Broadband Nirvana" or Broadband Hell?...

--------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: "Matthew Brill" - FCC
To: "Alan Dixon" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 16:01:20 -0500
Subject: Broadband Over Powerline

Mr. Alan Dixon
Contributing Editor
Popular Communications

Mr. Dixon, 

We are sorry for the delay in responding to your message -- the
Commissioner gets thousands of e-mails and it takes time to review them. 
We regret any suggestion that the Commissioner has prejudged the merits
of broadband over powerline technology.  Her intended point was that the
Commission should promote the deployment of new broadband networks,
consistent with the core congressional goals of accelerating the buildout
of broadband infrastructure and promoting facilities-based competition. 
This goal prompts our hope that powerline systems, satellite
technologies, wireless networks, and any other platforms can bring
broadband services to all Americans.  At the same time, the Commissioner
has attempted to make clear that a new technology (like BPL) will not be
permitted to cause harmful interference to licensed spectrum users. 
Thus, our support for BPL is contingent on its overcoming concerns about
harmful interference.  But if such concerns can be addressed, we continue
to believe that the development of new broadband platforms will benefit
the public interest.

Sincerely, 
Matthew Brill 
Senior Legal Advisor to Commissioner Abernathy 

--------- Original Message ----------
From: [email-masked]
To: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 07:21:24 -0500
Subject: FCC Commish- Kathleen Q. Abernathy Sucks It Up- Apologizes To
ARRL & HAMS Over "BPL" Comments.

====================================| 
Thanks goes out for catching this one to: 
Alan Dixon, Contributing Editor 
Popular Communications 
"The Washington Iconoclast" 
"Flying Under The Radar, But Still On Target" 
====================================| 
  
FCC Commish- Kathleen Q. Abernathy Sucks It Up- Apologizes To ARRL & HAMS
Over "BPL" Comments. 
FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies "Broadband Nirvana" Remarks 

NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 13, 2003--The 
office of FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. 
Abernathy has expressed regrets that her 
remarks in a September speech may have 
failed to make Abernathy's concerns 
sufficiently clear about potential interference 
from Broadband over Power Line (BPL). 

"We regret that the Commissioner's remarks may have been interpreted as 
suggesting an absence of concern over harmful interference," said
Abernathy 
Senior Legal Adviser Matthew A. Brill, responding to complaints from the
ARRL and individual amateurs. From a policy perspective, Brill said,
Abernathy is "keenly interested" in seeing multiple broadband platforms
develop, but that she didn't intend to suggest that BPL "necessarily will
emerge as a viable platform or that it does not present interference
issues." 
In her speech, Abernathy expressed unabashed enthusiasm for BPL and
suggested it was a step along the pathway to "Broadband Nirvana." Brill
noted, however, that near the end of her remarks, Abernathy--referring to
the FCC's approach to PCS regulation--said the Commission was "right to
adopt strict interference rules to prevent competitors from externalizing
their costs. The same principle will apply to BPL." 

Brill assured the ARRL that "ensuring that BPL and all new technologies
avoid causing harmful interference to licensed RF users is a bedrock
position for Commissioner Abernathy." He issued similar responses on
Abernathy's behalf to several amateurs who had complained following her
address to the United Powerline Council's annual conference September 22
(see "ARRL Rebukes FCC Commissioner's BPL-Related "Broadband Nirvana"
Remarks"). 

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, expressed delight at
Abernathy's recent clarification. "Commissioner Abernathy's affirmation
of this important principle as a 'bedrock position' is most welcome and
reassuring news," he said. From the outset of the FCC's BPL Notice of
Inquiry in ET Docket No. 03-104 last April, Sumner said, the League's
goal has been to hold the FCC to its statement in the NOI that "each of
these authorized services in the spectrum [including the Amateur and
Amateur-Satellite services] must be protected from harmful interference."

"Since that time the presence of harmful interference at BPL test sites
has been thoroughly documented," Sumner noted, "confirming that our
original concerns were well founded." 

Following her "Broadband Nirvana" remarks, Sumner had faxed Abernathy on
the League's behalf to point out that technical showings submitted by the
ARRL and others in response to the NOI "clearly establish that BPL is a
significant source of radio spectrum pollution" and that BPL "cannot be
implemented without causing harmful interference to over-the-air radio
services." 
ARRL's extensive comments, reply comments and technical exhibits are
available on the ARRL web site. There are additional information and
video clips on the ARRL "Power Line Communications (PLC) and Amateur
Radio" page. 

More than 5000 comments--many from the Amateur Radio community--have been
filed in response to the FCC's BPL NOI and are available for viewing via
the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). 

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/11/13/1/ 

The Commish's comments that go her in hot, water: 
 http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/09/25/100/ 

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 18:48:15 -0500

Like I Said...........  Alan is "Flying Under The Radar, But Still On Target"

[email-masked] wrote:

> We are sorry for the delay in responding to your message