The latest appraise of Broadband over Powerlines has it cautiously described as appearing to have ''all but vanished from the Australian telecommunications landscape''.

That’s the view of Wireless Institute of Australia BPL Working Group Chairman, Phil Wait VK2DKN, who also observes that the use of Access-BPL in the United States is diminishing rapidly, with the latest Access-BPL shut-down occurring in the City of Manassas.

There has been eight Access-BPL trials in Australia since 2004 but they appear to have stopped in 2007.

In his annual report to the WIA he said that Smart Metering trials in Australia appear to have bypassed Access-BPL in favour of other technologies.

Phil VK2DKN said, “In short, Access-BPL did not achieve the critical mass required to guarantee its commercial future in Western nations. “However Access-BPL has found markets in developing nations, where the existing wired infrastructure is poor or non-existent.”

While BPL using power lines as an internet enabling technology (Access-BPL) has failed, In-House BPL using the internal wiring or a home or building is now the major market for BPL equipment manufacturers.

“In the UK more than 800,000 pairs of in-home BPL modems have been installed by British Telecom, with continuing interference complaints to the UK regulator (Office of Communications) Ofcom ... (which) appears to be unable, or at least very reluctant to act,” said Phil VK2DKN.

To make matters worse for UK radio amateurs, it appears that a type of In-house BPL adaptor can emit a radio frequency signal up to 370MHz.

There has not been one complaint in Australia about interference from In-House BPL, but vigilance is being maintained in case products that cause interference come on to the market downunder.

Jim Linton VK3PC