In the early 2000s I was on a project that was planning on using the fibre that was embedded in the neutral conductor in the local grid here in eastern Australi

In the early 2000s I was on a project that was planning on using the fibre that was embedded in the neutral conductor in the local grid here in eastern Australia. It was used for telemetry and power control, but they thought they could sell access to ISPs and the like. I don't think it ended up going beyond a few pilot deployments and then our National Broadband Network got the go-ahead