The much-delayed rollout of broadband-over-powerline technology has received a boost from the IEEE, which announced it has formed a working group to develop requirements for a baseline BPL standard. Sending data transmissions over electrical wiring has been promoted as "the next big thing" for decades. Advocates say it will provide competition for cable and telecom companies.

The IEEE P1901 Working Group has developed more than 400 requirements for the standard and issued a June 4 deadline for proposals, with the goal of a draft global standard in 2008. After that, companies would have a master plan for manufacturing components and systems to develop the BPL industry.