Li Xiangzhen, a chief engineer from China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI), says China has made progress in Powerline Communication (PLC) research.

Powerline networks transmit data (phone calls and faxes as well as email and Web surfing) over regular electrical wiring, transforming every electrical outlet in the immediate area into a network connection. Wires and sockets are used simultaneously for electricity and data, without disrupting each other.

According to Li, PLC covered more than 500 city residential complexes in China by the end of 2005, boasting a total of more than 40000 users. Currently it is growing with over 3000 new users per months.

PLC uses a process called Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to handle high speed data transmission between computers. OFDM detects changes within the powerline and maintains network communication even during power fluctuations.