1. BPL Regulations for Access Networks  CURRENT’s Experience

2. 2 US FCC Investigations Into BPL  During 2003-2006, the United States Federal Communications Commission conducted an extensive investigation into Broadband Over Power Line (BPL)  Involved over 5000 submitted comments from interested parties, technical field investigations and testing.  Concluded with an endorsement of the potential of BPL systems for both broadband access delivery as well as improving electric utility operations.

3. 3 General Findings  FCC concludes that BPL “offers the potential to give rise to a major new medium for broadband service delivery”  Residential, institutional, commercial users  Rural, underserved and competitively served areas  Promote U.S. leadership in broadband technology  FCC noted that many utilities are looking to BPL to enable a variety of “more sophisticated power distribution applications”  SmartGrid Applications include automated outage/restoration detection, remote monitoring and operation of network distribution equipment, remote connect/disconnect, demand-side management programs and power quality monitoring to detect faulty components before they fail.  “ Access BPL systems will be able to operate successfully on an unlicensed, non- harmful interference basis”

4. 4 FCC General Findings (continued)  “Harmful interference potential from Access BPL systems operating in compliance with the existing Part 15 emission limits for carrier current systems is low in connection with the additional rules”  “Potential for any harmful interference is limited to areas within a short distance of the power lines” and the potential “decays rapidly” with distance from the line  No evidence that BPL will raise the background noise level (“noise floor”)  No evidence that Access BPL will cause the power lines to act as miles-long antennae radiating RF energy along their full length  “Properly designed and operated” systems pose “little interference hazard”  The FCC reaffirmed that existing Part 15 limits for BPL systems should apply and will pose little interference risk.  Also maintained in-situ testing for compliance due to lack of evidence showing correlation from lab measurements to actual field levels

5. 5 FCC Reaffirmed Part 15 Emissions Limits  Class A radiated emissions rules apply on MV wires  MV wires carry between 1,000 and 40,000 volts from a substation and may be overhead or underground  Class B radiated emissions rules apply on LV wires  LV wires carry “low voltage, e.g., 240/120 volts” from a distribution transformer to a customer premise  Class A provides for ~10 db more power then Class B  Distinction applies only above 30 MHz  FCC rejected requests for  emissions increases for rural areas (Main.net)  emissions increases of 10 db above Class A (Satius)  emissions decreases from amateurs applicable to ham bands  FCC will revisit emissions levels if “information develops that raising the limits might be possible without incurring unacceptable risk of interference”  No conducted emissions limits (including AM radio bands)

6. 6 The FCC Rules Have Been Proven Right!  BPL has continued deployment in North America  CURRENT’s deployment experience shows that BPL can be deployed without interference  CURRENT has the two largest BPL deployments in North America  55,000 homes in Cincinnati, Ohio (operational since 2004)  >60,000 homes in Dallas, Texas (operational since 2006)  Zero interference complaints of any kind  Even the National Association for Amateur Radio has stated that BPL done as CURRENT does it poses little interference risk.  CURRENT has shown that BPL can be deployed at the FCC limits without interference!