Google, others invest in broadband-over-powerline firm

Current Communications Group, a provider of broadband over power line (BPL) service, has received funding from Google, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and The Hearst Corp., the company announced Thursday.

Current Communications, which is selling BPL Internet service in the Cincinnati area, received "significant" funding from the three companies, said Scott Bruce, general manager of the company. Bruce declined to disclose the amount of investment, although The Wall Street Journal pegged the new round of funding at about $100 million.

"We're not disclosing the financial terms," Bruce said. "It's a significant investment."

Google said in a statement that its relationship with Current would "help promoted better access to the Internet." The company had no further comment.

In March 2004, Current and Cinergy Broadband LLC, a subsidiary of Cinergy Corp., announced investments of $70 million as the partners began rolling out BPL service to the Cincinnati area. The Cincinnati-area rollout includes broadband service and VoIP service.

Current is taking with other electric utilities about partnerships, Bruce said.

With the new investments, Current will put money into BPL improvements as well as applications that electric utilities can use to track outages and use of their electric grids, Bruce said. BPL providers have promoted their service as a way for electric utilities to quickly pinpoint problems on their grids.

The new round of financing included investments from two of Current's former investors, EnerTech Capital and the company's principal stakeholder, Liberty Associated Partners, an investment partnership between Liberty Media and the Berkman Family.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.