DirecTV to offer broadband over powerline

Satellite video provider DirecTV plans to offer voice and high-speed Internet service over electric power lines in a partnership with Current, a provider of broadband-over-powerline (BPL) technology.

Starting later this year, DirecTV will begin offering BPL services in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, striving to reach about 1.8 million homes and businesses “over the next several years,” the company said. The partnership also allows for service in other markets.

Funded by energy companies, Current deployed BPL in the Dallas area to an unknown number of users in 2006, in partnership with Texas energy utility TXU. Last year Current added voice-over-IP service to a BPL network it built in Cincinnati with Cinergy, a utility firm there. It has historically been guarded about the specifics of that network, including how many customers it serves.

BPL has long been positioned as a potential way to allow a new class of competitors—namely, power utilities with existing networks—to enter the broadband market. But skeptics have pointed out that power utilities would face an uphill battle as a late third entrant behind telcos and cable operators. However, satellite providers have been offering video services longer than telcos have.

DirecTV also partners with telcos such as AT&T and Verizon Communications to deliver video services as part of a bundle.