PLT thus has potential to be a player in the fast-growing local broadband services market. PLT can be the basis for a new broadband service provider in competitive areas, and it may be attractive in areas where no other broadband options, such as digital subscriber lines (DSL) or cable modem service, exist. These realities have given rise to a great deal of interest in PLT on the part of utilities, vendors, regulators, and financial institutions.
The Challenges for Utilities
Some PLT products are already in limited commercial service in Europe. Products and systems are also under development and trial in North America, where the underlying power distribution architecture is very different from Europe. Using the pre-existing electricity wires into homes and businesses may ultimately be an attractive solution for utilities to strengthen and diversify revenues, but there are technology, regulatory, and economic challenges to be considered.
Technology
Some of the existing, emerging, and proposed PLT technologies will have an effective bit rate of perhaps 6-8 Mbps. This bit rate is shared in both directions of transmission (uploads and downloads) by all subscribers in a particular serving area, similar to users sharing a local area network. Just as in local area networks, it is important to engineer the serving areas so that there are never too many users for the traffic offered.
It is important to understand the characteristics of competing technologies in order to obtain the right fit between what each can do, what the end users expect in terms of services, and what plant upgrades, ancillary equipment, systems, processes, and resources are needed. As with many embryonic technologies, skill is required in sorting facts from aspirations.
Regulatory
PLT systems use shortwave radio frequencies (e.g., 2-30 MHz). Since power wiring acts like an antenna, PLT signals can be heard on radio receivers. The shortwave spectrum is already used for licensed safety-of-life, defence, aeronautical and maritime navigation, broadcasting, time signal, and amateur radio services which are entitled to protection from interference. This potential for interference is greater in North America than in Europe, because in Europe much of the power distribution wiring is underground and shielded.
The potential for interference raises important regulatory issues that have led to restrictions on PLT deployment in some overseas jurisdictions. Prospective PLT vendors and operators will wish to manage this risk effectively while North American regulators are considering interference issues. An understanding of radio regulations, interference impacts and practical mitigation alternatives, and standards, regulatory processes, and findings is essential.
Economic
While there are some PLT systems in service in Europe, a fresh look at economics is required in North America since there are differences in architectures, subscriber densities, and competitive environments. Optimizing capacity, range, and other factors to get a low cost per subscriber and a low cost per home passed is particularly important.
Careful thought about PLT's sustainable competitive advantage in the evolving competitive landscape, based on an understanding of revenues, platforms, services, markets, processes, and costs, is needed to find the right solutions that make business sense.
Moving Forward
In summary, PLT has potential to provide a new source of revenue for utilities, but requires an intimate appreciation of:
The Acres Pacomm Telecommunications Consulting Group can help answer these questions. To learn more about their work, please contact:
John Cameron, Senior Consultant
Acres Management Consulting, Toronto, ON
416-542-5810
jcameron@acres.com
