Big Blue says it has been hired to develop, in cooperation with rural electricity companies, a system to deliver high-speed internet access via power lines. The idea has been around for years, but nobody, not even Google who has spent millions on the idea, managed to make it work so far. IBM says that it can.

The company has signed a contract with the International Broadband Electric Communications Inc., in Huntsville, Alabama, to install broadband systems at 13 cooperatives in seven states. The contract initially goes for $9.5 million, but the company predicts getting more business from at least some of the 900 other rural electricity cooperatives, according to an IBM official. He continued to mention the company is also working with electric utility companies overseas.

The concept of power line broadband works around using standard power lines to carry radio-frequency signals over the magnetic field that that surrounds the wires. The signal is amplified by cheap repeater boxes which are clamped to the lines. When an electricity beneficiary signs up for broadband services, the supplier sends out a special modem that is plugged in to the house power outlet where the computer is plugged in. Prices will start at $29.95 per month, according to International Broadband.

Internet providers and electricity companies alike have been courting the possibility to marry the two concepts for years, but until recently, signal-transmission devices have been too slow for broadband connections, and too expensive to compete with telephone wires. Technology has improved of late, but so far big utilities were not able to compete with established cable and telecom carriers in the suburbs.

Rural areas are another story. They comprise most of the 30 million U.S. homes with no broadband access, and they may just offer the avenue into which this long-thought-dead technology could expand. However with the FCC having unanimously approved the use of White Space radio spectrum for broadband use on Tuesday, the battle for rural broadband is going to be fierce.