Fibre broadband network to be built along London’s sewer pipes

One of country’s communications service providers has revealed plans to distribute a new fibre broadband network throughout Thames Water’s water pipes in the capital.

SSE Enterprise Telecom signed the agreement with the water provider to install fibre broadband cables throughout southeast England via sewage and wastewater pipes.

The connectivity firm said that the deal had arisen directly from a recent Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) that forced Openreach to abandon its planned dark fibre network. Instead, the opportunity was opened to other providers with the mandate to find “new and creative” methods to renovate London’s broadband service.

SSE says that piggy-backing off Thames Water’s existing sewage infrastructure could potentially reduce the costs of a standard network deployment dig by 60 per cent and make it 10 times faster to get people connected.

Another benefit is security: most pipes sit at around 10 meters below ground, making any connectivity infrastructure less prone to accidental breaks compared to other fibre networks.

There will also be no disruption to general operations and meet a number of provisions of EU and UK guidelines to boost digital strategies.

Richard Hill, Thames Water’s head of property, said the new broadband cables would happily fit into the sewerage system.

“Our Victorian sewers are already home to a number of pipes and cables belonging to other utility companies and we’re glad to also now be supporting SSE Enterprise Telecoms.

“Reducing roadworks and traffic congestion is something hugely important to us, so it’s great to help a fellow utility company do the same by allowing them to make use of our existing infrastructure”.

SSE’s representatives added that reliability was a key aspect of the new service for many of London’s homes and businesses, with modern technology allowing for a seamless service.

“As technology changes and new innovations are released, it is essential that networks can cope with increased capacity requirements and have the ability to easily scale their connectivity services to meet this need,” a spokesperson said.