News
Maximum PUA representatives meet the European Commission in Brussels: 18th October 2005, Brussels (Belgium)
Last October 18th, a delegation of the PLC Utilities Alliance met the DG Information Society and Media in Brussels. The PUA President and Vice-President gave an overview of the history of the Association (achievements and current activities), the PUA members PLC projects (trials and commercial roll-outs) and our vision of the PLC opportunity in Europe and worldwide. Commissioner Viviane Reding´s Head of Cabinet, Mr. Rudolf Strohmeier, acknowledged the key role that the PUA can play when promoting the PLC technology and disseminating its members' knowledge.
PLC technology is seen from the European Commission as a very competitive solution to deploy alternative telecom infrastructure in many geographic areas. High priority is given to the "Broadband for All Eastern Europe countries).
The PUA will keep coordinating actions with the European Commission in order to get the maximum value and effectiveness out this fruitful working relationship we maintain from the past.
PUA-APTEL MoU signature: 21st July 2005, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed on June 28th, by Alicia Sanchez, Board member of the PUA Association, acting on behalf of Jose Carlos Serrano, PUA President, and Pedro Jatoba, President of APTEL (http://www.aptel.com.br/)This MoU officially launches formal channels of cooperation between both PLC Associations, covering promotion of the PLC technology, regulatory and standards matters. The main goal is sharing information about PLC situation in Europe and Latam as well as harmonizing international regulatory regimes and industry standards. Such initiative enlarges the scope of the international activities carried out by the PUA (Europe, US and Latam so far).
Workshop on PLC Technology: 10th- 11th May 2005, Barcelona (Spain)
Last 10th- 11th May 2005 the PLC Utilities Alliance Association organized a "Workshop on PLC Technology" in Barcelona (Spain). All utilities interested in Power Line Communications attended this two-day event, which will include not only a conference session, but also a visit to PLC on-site installations.
Focused in the PLC industry in Europe, this open event successfully covered all the key topics of the Power Line Communications technology (PLC business opportunities, Marketing and commercial issues, Services and applications, Regulation and Standardization…), allowing the attendees to get a closer approach to the PLC technology state of the art.
The European Commission member Paulo de Sousa and the UPLC representative Brett Kilbourne provided the audience with the viewpoint of the experts in Regulation and PLC in the USA (BLP), respectively.
The "Workshop on PLC Technology" widely favored the exchange ideas among the companies present at the event, helping them to learn more about the opportunity that the PLC represents for the electrical market and how the PUA can support any utility company in a future PLC development.
Presentations of the "Workshop on PLC Technology" presentations are currently available at the Download section of the PUA website.
PUA Workshop OPERA Newsletter (193kb)
Final adoption of the EC Recommendation on PLC: 14th April 2005
Using electric power supply lines to offer low-cost high speed internet access will be made easier thanks to a Commission recommendation issued on 14th. April 2005. This recommendation aims to clarify rules on using electric power cables to carry electronic communication data. The Commission thereby intends to boost competition by opening up the market to new suppliers of high-speed "broadband" connections via the electricity grid.
(Extract based on the Newsletter published by the EC on April, 14th 2005)
The text of the final recommendation is now avaible at the Download section of the PUA website.
The PUA becomes an official Association: 13th- 14th December 2004, Lisbon (Portugal)
Six major European power utilities founded the PLC Utilities Alliance (PUA) on January 2002 with the objective to promote the development of Power Line Communications in Europe.
Aiming to reinforce the legal character of the group and improve the effectiveness of the actions carried out, the PUA members decided to give the Alliance the status of an Association. As a consequence, last 13th- 14th December 2005, the PUA celebrated the PUA Association Foundational Meeting in Lisbon (Portugal), what was the first official step to constitute the old Alliance as an international Association under the Spanish law.
Since then, the PUA has continued to work very hard to increase the awareness about the PLC technology and has kept on collaborating with National and European Authorities, manufacturers and further PLC organizations worldwide in order to achieve a favorable framework for the PLC development.