BPL technology uses the electricity grid in a city and the wiring in individual homes to provide direct "plug in" broadband access through electricity sockets, rather than over phone or cable TV lines.
COMTek said that the roughly 12,500 households in Manassas now are within the reach of its BPL network and that commercial services are available throughout the city to 2,500 businesses on an on-demand basis.
COMTek already has an estimated 700 customers in Manassas, with another 500 requests for service being processed. In addition to Manassas, COMTek is in negotiations to deliver similar services for nine other investor-owned utilities, municipal-owned utilities, and other entities.
City of Manassas Mayor Douglas Waldron said: "Manassas resolved to move forward with broadband over powerline as a major enhancement of what our city-owned utility provides to its customers. COMTek accepted the challenge of working with us by building a BPL network that would serve all of our citizens. This has proven to be an extraordinarily positive and results-oriented partnership in which every citizen of Manassas can take pride. We have accomplished something here that will be a model for other cities and towns across the United States."
Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) said: "Congress is looking closely at ways to improve broadband access in rural and other non-urban settings and that is why I am so encouraged by the Manassas success with broadband over powerline. The City of Manassas and COMTek are to be applauded for their leadership roles in pioneering access in a way that has never been achieved anywhere else in the United States. Now, the challenge before us is to make this same sort of success story blossom across the nation."
