Broadband provider Current Communications Group, announced investment money from Google, Hearst and Goldman Sachs Thursday . Current themselves are not mentioning numbers but the Wall Street Journal are talking of a $100 million.

Current and energy company Cinergy's subsidiary broadband operation had a $70 million input from Cinergy, EnerTech Capital and Liberty Associated Partners last year which will used to fund a joint venture to bundle broadband and voice services for Cinergy's 1.5 million customers in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Another joint venture will deploy broadband over power lines to smaller municipal and co-operatively owned power companies to some 24 million customers across the country. Current added that its plans involve expanding broadband-over-power-line deployments in the United States and overseas.

"These investments provide us with both capital and operating assistance as we continue to roll out broadband-over-power-line services to provide voice, video and data services," William Berkman, chairman of Current, said in a statement. "Current Communications has begun offering its broadband service over Cinergy's power grid to customers in Cincinnati and is rolling it out in Indiana and Kentucky, as well" said Scott Bruce, managing director for Current. Their joint venture with Cinergy is building momentum and negotiations are in progress with power companies in less urban areas, but uptake of the services are still limited. "It takes some time to introduce a concept and overlay our equipment on their power grid," Bruce said.

Cable operators were not quick-off-the-mark with broadband - heavy capital investments are required but they did have an advantage over power companies. "The cable guys were already in the communications business, so it wasn't that much of a leap," Bruce said. "The power companies are on the more conservative side." Usually, Current does everything - supplies the services and collects the money and then pays the Power companies royalties for the use of their grids. This start-up hasn't yet generated significant revenue flow but Current can live on the money raised in these two recent investment inputs.

"We have continued to optimize our equipment, and part of the money we raised was used to develop commercial broadband," Bruce said. Current puts small boxes on power transformers, and those boxes piggyback on the power grid to transmit signals via the power wires that go into homes.

Reuben Dunn