It
has been hailed as the solution to the digital divide and the ultimate
in in-home networking, but powerline communications technology (PLC) has
not yet captivated Australia, despite commercial roll-outs in Europe and
dozens of trials in North and South America.A new report is urging the
Federal Government to encourage its advancement.PLC, also known as broadband
powerline (BPL), allows voice and data to be transmitted using overhead
and underground electricity cables.The technology is not new. Power companies
have transmitted signals between electricity towers, albeit in narrow
band, for decades, and some even use it to remotely read customer meters
and control off-peak hot-water systems. But only recently has it advanced
enough to minimise noise interference and allow hardware vendors to fine-tune
their offerings. The concept is simple and attractive: high-speed data
is carried to and from the internet on electrical cables and delivered
to users anywhere there is a power point. Energy companies like it because
it realises further potential in their existing and pervasive infrastructure
assets; internet service providers want it because they may be able to
buy capacity from suppliers other than Telstra; and consumers, especially
those in remote areas, stand to gain better access to services and pricing.
As concluded by people attending a recent industry roundtable in Sydney
organised by telecommunications analyst Paul Budde, PLC is now a reality
and the technology usable. So why hasn't it happened yet?Juergen Bender,
chief executive of German-based PLC consultancy Bender Information &
Systemtechnology, prepared the report for the Government. He says Australia
is falling behind the rest of the world."If Australia is not very
active early next year, it will miss the opportunity because it will give
Telstra more time to renew their network and grab more customers, making
it harder for others to challenge them," he says.Bender stops short
of accusing the Government of stalling the advancement of PLC until the
remaining sale of Telstra, but says an alternative broadband roll-out,
particularly in rural areas, would have a substantial impact on the telco.PLC
has also encountered considerable resistance from regulators, with the
Australian Communications Authority publishing a damning report on its
viability just days after its representatives attended the Budde roundtable.The
ACA's main reservations stemmed from the level of noise "radiation"
produced by high volumes of data transmission over the cables, and the
possible interference with other traditional system users, such as amateur
radio operators.The ACA has since apologised for not fully disclosing
its concerns at the forum and reassured participants it has not made any
decisions regarding PLC. But regulators are not the only ones lukewarm
about the possibilities. Andrew Chetham, principal analyst with Gartner,
is pessimistic. "The biggest problem is handling the backhaul traffic
from the transformers - that is from 240 volts - to higher voltage in
the grid," he says. "The alternative would be to link the transformers
to existing telco links (to take it across to other low-voltage segments),
but that destroys the business model," Chetham says. "It doesn't
look that promising."Regulators are concerned about lack of standards,
plus privacy, security and service quality, given the possible unstable
nature of the power supply. But Bender says these can also be solved.In
summarising his report to the roundtable, Bender said the Australian grid
had been inspected and proved suitable to provide PLC, adding: "Now
narrowband and broadband PLC projects must be launched."He wants
the Government to lead the way by conducting a trial on the Northern Territory
power grid and to work with the ACA to deregulate the industry and develop
standards."National standards have to be developed to ensure co-existence
(of power utilities) and backbone interconnection is likely to be a major
challenge (but) the data collected in the trial should enable utilities
to build viable business cases."Paul Budde says PLC is a reality
but players need to be more sophisticated in their approach. Geoff Fietz,
manager telecommunication enterprises, Country Energy, agrees. He has
overseen research into PLC since 2001."We have been exploring two
vendors' equipment - one Australian and the other from overseas - for
18 months or so," Fietz says.Country Energy - born from the amalgamation
of Great Southern Energy, Advance Power and NorthPower - covers 72 per
cent of NSW.It has two uses for PLC: the ability to offer new broadband
internet to rural communities and the promise of remotely monitoring its
own power grid.It will conduct a trial in Armidale with Transgrid, the
University of New England and the New England Smart Community Action Project
in 2004. Eventually it may sell excess broadband capacity to others wanting
to tap into its 180,000 kilometres of cables.
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/08/1070732152234.html
