Ambient logo--------------------------Ambient President and CEO John Joyce

Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED] spokesperson Chris Olert today told Broadband over Power Line World that Con Ed's recent sale of its Con Edison Communications (CEC) subsidiary to FiberNet for $37 million dollars will not affect the ongoing broadband over power line (BPL) trial being conducted by another of its subsidiaries, Con Edison Company of New York, Inc..

That trial, which began in mid-2002 in Westchester County, New York, in conjunction with BPL equipment supplier Ambient Corporation, will be rolled out at no cost to "approximately 400" Con Ed customers "within the next month or so" as part of the joint research and development project. The residential customer trial, Mr. Olert, said, is expected to run "approximately six months," after which time it will be evaluated.

So far, according to Mr. Olert, Con Ed has been primarily examining the utility of BPL as a means of managing its own internal operations.

The free, experimental roll-out to residential customers will be conducted in cooperation with EarthLink, an ISP.

According to Mr. Olert, "we [Con Ed] are partial owner[s] in Ambient." Con Ed and Ambient, he said are "development partners."

You can hear Con Ed spokesperson Olert's remarks in their entirety by clicking here.