Intel India pilots internet over power lines
BENGALURU: Nivruti Rai, country head of Intel India, says the company has piloted a project in India called WoW, or Wireless over Wire, that takes internet through electricity wires. Given that most villages have electricity connections, this could be a big breakthrough in making the internet available to remote areas if the technology is proved viable. Laying optical fibre to all villages is expensive and will take a long time. Some, like Elon Musk’s Starlink, are trying to achieve the same objective with satellites.
“Wherever there is electricity, we have a scalable, affordable way where we can provide data (through electricity wires) to the village. And from the village to the homes, it could be Wi-Fi,” Rai says. The middle mile, she says, is what is being solved. Optical fibre is available till the panchayat level. The major hurdle has been the segment from the panchayat to the village.
Data over power lines has challenges. They are more susceptible to external interference than when passed through optical fibre. It has to be seen how well Intel has overcome those.
