Power Line Communication - A technical market report - PTS-ER-2003:40

21/11/2003

Despite the fact that Power Line Communication (PLC) ought to be an attractive alternative to xDSL and fibre for broadband access to the Internet, it is a technology explored by very few power companies. There are a number of reasons for this, where one is the coverage problem that affected the pioneering PLC providers. The technology was not mature enough to offer the range that the utilities and manufacturers promised the market. The absence of a harmonized standard, regulating the emission levels allowed from PLC equipment is yet another problem area. Without such a standard, power companies investing in power line communication could end up with a large stock of modems unusable to customers, thus jeopardizing the entire venture. An international standard would also imply a larger market, thus enabling lower end user prices.

Work on a harmonized standard is however ongoing. A number of vendors are present on the market with mature products and a number of test installations are available in Sweden as well as on the European continent. These factors all together make the market potential for power line communication much more promising than earlier. However, it is still an open question whether the window of opportunity has closed for PLC as xDSL has reached a significant market penetration and hence has captured the market.