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IBM has struck a $9.6 million deal with International Broadband Electric Communications (IBEC) as part of a plan to deploy high-speed Internet service via power lines in rural U.S. areas which are generally underserved by traditional broadband technology. Most efforts in the past to deliver Internet access over electrical power lines have not been greatly successful despite the availability of the technology for quite some time.

The two-year project is estimated to cost up to $70 million according to the Associated Press. "The company will have access to 340,000 homes in Alabama, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin, about 86 percent of which have no cable or DSL access," said IBEC Chief Executive Scott Lee.

"The technology involves sending data on the same wires that provide electricity. Every half a mile or so, a device clamped to the line perpetuates the signal. Inside homes, customers plug a modem into any wall outlet and sign on. But that stream of data has often run into interference with other wireless devices that happen to be nearby. Ham radio operators have been particularly irked, and even sued the FCC over it."

Read full story: MarketWatch

Related topics: Broadband, Telecom