Bright net move

WESTERN Power has been named as a member of a national consortium of energy utilities seeking to use their electrical power grids to deliver Internet services. The corporation’s Bright Telecommunications subsidiary is a key member of the national UtiliTel consortium of utilities, which has formed the cooperative-style organisation to share information on telecommunications issues. A Western Power spokesperson said Bright was interested in the research being done but was not yet planning to put into practice that particular technology. Independent telecommuni-cations analyst Paul Budde, who is acting as an adviser to UtiliTel, said Bright offered Western Australia a very big opportunity to deliver broadband services. “I hope WA sees this as an opportunity to spearhead into the broadband market,” he said. “I would think it is very much in the interest of the state government to use every avenue available to bring broadband to the public.” Bright has a network of fibre optic cable that provides telco services to customers in the CBD as well as a few suburban areas such as South Perth. Western Power announced the planned sale of Bright last year but has since decided to hold onto the operation.