Great news. Read it the other day too. Bring ot on!!!Last...

Great news. Read it the other day too. Bring ot on!!!

Last Update: Tuesday, September 13, 2005. 5:29pm (AEST)

Power line broadband 'threatens Telstra's market'
Broadband technology being rolled out by Tasmania's electricity supplier is said to have big implications for Telstra.

Aurora Energy and Japanese interest Mitsubishi Electric today launched the first commercial trial in the southern hemisphere of Broadband over Power Lines technology, at 200 megabits.

Customers in a Hobart suburb will pay about $15 for faster Internet access, Voice over Internet (VoIP) services and cheap local and international calls from their home or business power points, in a nine-month trial.

Telecommunications analyst, Paul Budde, says potentially, electricity suppliers could steal 10 per cent of Australia's $70 billion broadband market.

He says the cheaper phone calls are a big selling point.

"Telstra's fat margins of 70, 80 per cent in the traditional telephone services are going down to 20 to 30 per cent, look at the prices the Tasmanians are now going to pay for telephone calls, that means the profit from Telstra is going down and that's the main problem for Telstra," Mr Budde said.