EarthLink Among New BPL-Project Investors

ISP EarthLink Inc. is among the investors contributing a total of $130 million for CURRENT Communications Group LLC’s BPL rollouts.

The ISP plans to become a retail provider of CURRENT’s BPL broadband services.

TXU Corp. – the utility company for which CURRENT is developing its energy-saving Smart Grid so TXU can deploy BPL to more than 2 million customers in Texas – also has signed on as a new investor, as has General Electric Co.

Existing investors include Google Inc., Duke Energy Corp. and Hearst Corp., among others.

“With high-speed support for both uploads and downloads and ease of deployment, CURRENT BPL gives us another viable alternative to the broadband services we now provide,” said Garry Betty, president and CEO of EarthLink. “EarthLink is working with companies like CURRENT to deliver next-generation broadband service needed by today’s home and business users to better access videos, large batches of pictures and other online content.”

In Texas, CURRENT is deploying the first BPL-enabled Smart Grid with TXU Electric Delivery, a subsidiary of TXU Corp. A range of “smart” equipment and applications – automated meters, around-the-clock power quality monitoring and remote security cameras – will be installed on the electric distribution network to provide TXU Electric Delivery with real-time information about power consumption, availability, quality and security.

In addition to enabling a Smart Grid, the same communications network will deliver consumer broadband service, including a range of services such as interactive gaming and multimedia applications.

“These investments recognize that the future lies in providing a choice to consumers in their use of both electricity and communications,” said William H. Berkman, chairman and co-founder of CURRENT.

CURRENT Communications Group LLC www.currentgroup.com
EarthLink Inc.   www.earthlink.net

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