Officials at the State Power Telecommunications Center, a telecom affiliate to the State Power Corp, are carrying out tests on electric cables and related equipment to see whether they can provide broadband Internet access services.

The center was last summer granted a licence to provide Internet access services from the telecom watchdog, the Ministry of Information Industry.

Electric lines are probably the most far-reaching of all networks linking Chinese families.

Once a special modem is installed, they can provide a bigger bandwidth and data transmission ability than telephone lines, the traditional Internet access medium, officials at the State Power Telecommunications Center said.

Most Chinese netizens still use telephone lines to access the web but electric cables may replace them, offering lower charges and a faster data transmission speed.

The State Power Telecommunications Center has started trial operations in residential buildings in Beijing and is surveying users about suitable charges.

"As an innovative technology, power line communication is being researched and developed in many countries and China is likely to make some breakthroughs in the commercial operation," according to a senior manager of the State Power Telecommunications Center.

He said the result of the trial in Beijing was "satisfactory" and the center will push forward commercialization of the technology as "the market cannot wait".

As well as Internet access, the center has also applied for licences for basic telecom business, including mobile and fixed-line telephone services.

Refusal from the Ministry of Information Industry has led the center to take a more realistic stance and start down-to-the-earth operations, especially moves in the capital market.

A subsidiary of the State Power Telecommunications Center, Beijing Fibrlink, is preparing to go public later this year in Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market to generate more money for the parent company's future development in the telecom field.

(China Daily July 3, 2002)