Regulation Issues Relating to Broadband PLC: A Brazilian Experience and Perspective

This paper focuses on some important concerns related to broadband power line communication (PLC) that emerged from regulation discussions resulting from observations of an experimental field trial conducted on low and medium voltage power lines by ANATEL, Brazil´s telecommunications regulatory agency, and CELG, an electric power utility serving the country´s center western region. Discussions are presented on the need to promote the coexistence of telecommunications systems in the 1.7-80 MHz frequency band, which includes the high frequency (HF) and part of the very high frequency (VHF) bands. The field test results of PLC system operation indicate that the presence of emissions justify the need to implement mitigation techniques, such as notch filters, dynamic frequency selection, cognitive radio concepts or any other strategies or devices that enable the coexistence of PLC systems with different telecommunications systems operating in the same frequency range.