While it has been discussed for quite a while, this article from Reuters mentions that MVV Energie in Mannheim, Germany is working on the first commercial launch of Internet service via powerlines. They are using powerline communications (PLC) technology from Main.net in Israel, which is working in Europe and the United States.
(Oddly enough, Main.net — also referred to as MainNet.net, M@in.net, or just MainNet — doesn’t control either the Main.net, an environmental policy website, or MainNet.com, the website of an ISP (also at MainNet.net), domain names.)
The technology has been trialed with 200 households and an Internet caf