As broadband over power-line trials evolve, and municipal utilities continue to enter the competitive fold, players position themselves to provide the next necessary utility. -

Many local power companies, fiber already stretching throughout their communities to monitor the grid, have turned to providing high-speed access as a way of filling the coffers.

Wienstrom, the largest Utility in Vienna, serves 2 million people and produces 10 billion kilowatts of electrical energy each year. In 1983 the utility began building a fiber telecommunications infrastructure to better monitor power consumption. By 2000, more than six-hundred and twenty miles of fiber was buried in the earth, connecting 450 Viennese city schools, and the majority of Vienna government offices.

With 1,200 to 1,800 miles worth of empty duct-work, and more than 30,000 miles claimed under city "right-of way" agreements, it was the natural course of action for the utility to begin serving area residents. In 2002, the city launched blizznet, brought in Cisco to handle the hardware for the MAN (metropolitan area network construction), and now Vienna is one of the most broadband saturated cities in the world.

An Australian broadband infrastructure company recently took bundling to the extreme. Australian utility provider ActewAGL, in conjunction with their partially owned broadband infrastructure provider TransACT, now offers a broadband bundle that also includes electricity, water and natural gas.

Smaller towns and cities across the U.S. have also pinned their hopes on fiber as the saving grace for otherwise dying communities. Looking toward these larger cities for motivation, many of them believe that if they can bring in adequate bandwidth, they'll be better positioned to engage the global market-place and improve their respective stagnant economies.

These areas aren't particularly concerned how they get the bandwidth or who provides it; but many are finding that if their power, cable or phone companies won't provide service, their best bet is to do it themselves.

18 Maryland counties, frustrated by red tape, recently formed a commission tasked with improving life in rural Maryland. The commission's number one task, before improving roads, before improving water and sewer systems, was to get fiber optic cable deployed throughout their communities.

Likewise, the real estate market is finding that home owners and business rental clients are expecting broadband connectivity, much as you'd expect running water and operational lights. According to one UK consulting firm, new clients are increasingly rejecting property rentals if there isn't adequate bandwidth. Home builders are likewise finding increased demand for pre-wired and broadband ready homes.

In some rare cases that demand with being more than adequately met. The Governors Towne Club, located in a suburb of Atlanta, is a test-community whose telecommunications infrastructure is being developed by BellSouth. Residents not only receive a networked home and a DSL connection, but BellSouth also provides the security system, close circuit television monitors, automated lighting, irrigation controls, and automated appliances.

Obviously such luxury is only for the privileged few. The reality is that fiber and DSL deployments have stalled while the telcos have waited for regulatory certainty, leaving many in the dark. With the FCC recently ruling that the telcos will not have to share future fiber networks with competitors, the telcos will be one of the major players in providing FTTH (fiber to the home)....but the end product is more than a decade away.

In the interim, municipal broadband has flourished, and when power companies aren't being approached by city leaders to offer service, they're offering it by themselves. With plenty of fiber in the ground, it's increasingly common to see power companies using that excess fiber to fill in the gaps left by the telco and cable providers. With BPL (Broadband via power line) trials moving full speed ahead (despite interference concerns), these companies may soon have another delivery method available.

Connectivity gaps are still all too common. In areas where bandwidth is deployed, upstream bandwidth is usually feeble, and connection reliability issues remain. Still, the stage is being set for the eventual day when residents are no more surprised by available bandwidth than they are by turning on their water faucet and receiving....of all things....water.