Town gets broadband via sewers

Last Modified: 08 May 2008
Source: PA News

Bournemouth is to become the first UK town to get super-fast broadband using an underground network of fibre via the sewers.

More than 88,000 homes and businesses in the Dorset seaside town will benefit from internet speeds up to 100Mbps (megabits per second) under the scheme.

Fibre firm H2O Networks Ltd is funding the £30 million project and will deploy the fibre in the next six months.

Bournemouth is the first UK town to get super-fast fibres via the sewers and further towns will be announced in the coming months.

Elfed Thomas, CEO of H2O Networks, added: "This is just the start of bringing next generation connectivity to the UK."

He added: "Many households and broadband customers in the UK have insufficient connectivity bandwidths because they are attached to legacy networks deployed in the 20th Century that just can't cope with demand."

The UK is feared to be falling behind other countries with nations such as France enjoying speeds of between 50 and 100Mbps provided by three operators.

Faster broadband makes possible services such as on-demand high definition TV, quality DVD downloads in minutes, online video messaging, CCTV home surveillance and HD gaming.

It is also cheaper and more environmentally-friendly to use the UK's 360,000 miles of sewers rather than dig up roads to deploy the fibre.

H2O has been offering the underground network to businesses and universities around the UK for several years and plans to create a nationwide network for consumers over the next few years.

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