The £4m trial will examine whether passing cables through water pipes could improve connectivity for homes, businesses and mobile masts. Digging for cable laying is an expensive and disruptive process; civil works such as installing new ducts and poles can comprise up to four-fifths of the cost of building new gigabit-capable broadband networks.
Fibre cable has been deployed in the water pipes of other countries, such as Spain, and broadband providers are already using existing infrastructure in England to lay cable, including electricity poles. If the project is successful, broadband firms could gain access to more than one million kilometres of underground utility ducts – not just water, but also electricity, gas and sewage – to help their rollout of gigabit-speed broadband.
“The cost of digging up roads and land is the biggest obstacle telecoms companies face when connecting hard-to-reach areas to better broadband,” said digital infrastructure minister...