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Households that choose to use broadband Internet delivered by new systems that route data down the mains power cables may be denied access to short-wave radio broadcasts. That is the warning from broadcasting engineers in Great Britain who say that interference from the cables is so severe that it will block out short-wave transmissions in homes that use the system. Electricity utilities have long wanted to use their power cables to deliver broadband Internet services. The idea is for the digital data signal to piggyback on the standard 50 or 60-hertz mains frequency. Many power companies in the U.S. and Europe see this "power-line telecoms" as a new source of revenue.