"We feel 300 is a respectable number and will give us a good base to work from."

He also said the pilot will be provided in an area which already offers DSL. "We are going head-to-head against DSL. We feel we need to indicate that BPL can stand on its own."

A number of consumer plans will be offered, but Fietz did not provide specific details.

Unlike ADSL, the technical specifications of BPL provides for symmetric speeds, allowing users to benefit from the same upload speeds as download. The plans will most likely start at 10Mbps. However, the system can reach a theoretical maximum speed of 200Mbps.

Although BPL is very much a nascent technology in the country, this 200Mbps speed is significantly faster than what is offered by current cable or DSL providers.