NEW DELHI: In a move that has the potential to give a big boost to broadband penetration, government is planning to promote use of power distribution lines for providing internet connectivity to your homes.

The department of information technology (DIT) is in talks with some of the country’s top technical institutions to evolve technology that would make transmission of broadband-over-power line (BPL) a viable option.

"We have received proposals from some of the leading technical institutions in the country in this regard and the department would allocate some funds to the institutes for carrying out the research and development work to promote broadband penetration," an official in the DIT said.

Broadband service providers need to install a transmitter every three meters for the supply of 2 mega hertz to 35 mega hertz of radio-wave that is required to run internet, under the technology presently available with the Indian companies.

The broadband development wing of DIT is planning to adopt a technology where the requirement of installing a transmitter is brought down to one every 300 meters to 500 meters. The department has also received a proposal in this regard from the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE).

BPL is also known as power-line internet or powerband. Under this technology broadband internet access can be provided through ordinary power lines. A computer would need only to plug a BPL modem into any outlet in an equipped building to have high-speed Internet access.

The BPL system has the potential to take broadband access to every nook and corner of the country, especially because of the reach of electricity to almost every location. However, variations in the physical characteristics of the electricity network and the current lack of any standardisation for the process poses hurdles in the process of implementation of the idea.

Intel had plans to offer the BPL service on a large scale in India but the plans could not materialise due to the above mentioned road-blocks. Also, there is a need for better understanding of the service among the power distribution companies, especially the state electricity boards for better implementation of the programme.