Bournemouth to get fibre broadband via sewers

Bournemouth will begin the deployment of a fibre network within the next six months, bringing next-generation broadband and connectivity to all homes and businesses in the town.

This will be the largest network project in Europe, and H2o networks will be funding and providing the network at a cost of about £30m. The majority of the fibre will be put in the sewers using the Fibre Optical Cable Underground Sewer System.

The fibre will provide ultra-high bandwidth to all of Bournemouth's businesses and more than 88,000 homes at speeds far exceeding current DSL or cable modem speeds, typically by tens or even hundreds of Mbps.

Bournemouth Borough Council plans to use the network for video conferencing social workers to keep vulnerable people safe. It also intends to use the network to enable real-time monitoring of traffic using CCTV. Finally, it is hoped that faster broadband speeds will improve the use of ICT in schools.

Where the sewers are not a viable way to deploy the network, H2O Networks will install the cable using its patented Blown Mini Duct system. With this method, a small, 20-millimetre wide slot is cut into the road in order to lay the cable.