On 22nd February Paul Budde, a well known proponent of the BPL industry, appeared on ABC Goulburn-Murray talkback radio and stated that overseas trials of BPL showed no concerns over interference, and also that the only people complaining were "about 3000 radio amateurs" and that they refused to negotiate or discuss the matter. (see the ACREM BPL Page - "BPL on ABC Talkback"
http://www.acremnsw.org.au/bpl/index.php?page=abc)
ACREM promptly responded to that interview, pointing out the truth that BPL had been proven to cause significant interference to many HF radio services including amateur radio, shortwave radio, and HF CB bands, and that many organisations had voiced their concerns over BPL and not just "around 3000 radio amateurs". In fact, the ABC went so far as to engage the services of an independent analyst who confirmed that BPL is likely to cause extreme interference to numerous frequencies, include broadcast.
Recently the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, announced that the Federal Government would make some $3 billion available under its "Broadband Connect" scheme for companies willing to install broadband access for the bush, and immediately the infamous Paul Budde called for the formation of a consortium to seek funding for broadband projects. Given Mr Budde's past comments and disregard for radio users, and obvious blatant lies about the truth of BPL interference and overseas trials, we were immediately concerned that the Budde lead consortium would seek Government funding to expand their BPL networks and therefore spread the interference to radio users over a much wider area.
ACREM wrote to the Minister and Shadow Minister detailing the history of public misinformation that Paul Budde and the BPL industry has so far engaged in, and detailing the hard facts that even in Austria, a case that the BPL industry use to promote how well BPL has been accepted, the Government regulator has determined that widespread interference to HF public safety frequencies as well as amateur radio bands is indeed caused by BPL emissions. In light of the ongoing difficulties being faced overseas, and the proof in Australian trials that interference does exist, ACREM is seeking from the Government an assurance that Federal funds will not be made available under this scheme for the building or expansion of a BPL network.
Details of the submission can be found at:
http://www.acremnsw.org.au/bpl/index.php?ID=submissions#submission4We will post any response as they are received. To date only Joel Fitzgibbon, Member for Hunter, has responded asking to be kept informed of the response from the Minister so that further discussions can be held if an unsatisfactory response is received.
Cheers
Martin
