Satellite television provider DirecTV Group Inc announced yesterday that it would be providing high-speed Internet and voice services to its subscribers via electric power lines. The group said that these services would be carried by Current Group.
The pilot project will be launched in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and high-speed internet will reach about 1.8 million homes by the end of 2007, the company announced. Currently the so-called triple bundle service that includes voice, video and the Internet costs $100. Analysts feel that DirecTV and Current will need to beat this prince in order to gain any sort of foothold in this field.
DirecTV and Current have not yet announced any pricing or packages for their services. Current, which offers comprehensive broadband-over-powerline (BPL) services, has leading investors like Google, EarthLink, Goldman Sachs, and Hearst. It is being reported that Google might have played a role in the deal with DirecTV.
Germantown, Md.-based Current provides BPL services that allow users to connect to the Internet by plugging in their modem to any electrical outlet within the premises.
The deal gives El Segundo-based DirecTV a chance to explore the market for BPL even as it races to compete with rivals who offer similar services.
