Internet Connections Through Power Sockets Later This Year

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Saturday, 29, April, 2006 (01, Rabi` al-Thani, 1427)     Internet Connections Through Power Sockets Later This Year Lulwa Shalhoub, Arab News —   JEDDAH, 29 April 2006 — Saudi Arabia has embarked on a project to provide Internet access through the electrical wall socket, one of the least common forms of connectivity available. The Eastern Province's ElectroNet Co. announced recently that it would begin providing broadband Internet access via power lines later this year. "This service offers lower prices and high connections speeds," said Mohamed Al-Jaroudi, ElectroNet spokesman. The company announced it would provide this access at speeds up to of 2 Mbps (megabytes per second), about four times more bandwidth than Saudi Telecom Company's fastest household DSL line (Internet access through traditional phone lines that is faster than a dial-up connection), which clocks in at 512 Kbps (kilobytes per second). Higher bandwidths allow users to employ bandwidth-heavy functions, such as watching streaming video and using the Internet to make telephone calls. The pricing structure places BPL (broadband by power lines) connections above DSL but below satellite connections. But the company is betting that consumers would be willing to pay more to access the Internet at home without the landline telephone connection required for dial-up or DSL. It is not known if a BPL connection will be subject to the same site-blocking system used by the SCT for its phone-line-based Internet service. Consumers who are willing to pay the premium often obtain satellite-dish based Internet connectivity to bypass site-blocking technologies used by the STC. ElectroNet's preliminary price for a 512 Kbps connection through an electrical socket is SR300 a month, more than double the STC cost for a DSL connection with the same bandwidth. ElectroNet's fastest 2 Mbps connection would cost SR800 a month. "These prices are not fixed. They might be decreased after we launch the service," said Al-Jaroudi. ElectroNet will provide customers with a BPL box that connects the computer's Internet access to a standard electrical outlet. The company says the connection will not increase the cost of consumers' electric bill. Consumers will be given the chance to try out the service with a refundable deposit before signing a contract. ElectroNet started with a branch in the Eastern Province. More branches will soon open in the major cities, such as Riyadh and Jeddah.

 

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