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The south-coast town has been chosen to be the testbed for H20 Networks' ambitious plan to run fibre cable through the sewer network.. The town has fended off competition from Dundee and Northampton, which were also shortlisted as potential locations.

Up to 88,000

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homes in Bournemouth will benefit from connections of up to 100Mb/sec. The sewer speeds far outstrip BT's ADSL service which is maxed out at 24Mb/sec on its new 21CN network.

H20 claims utilising the sewers is far cheaper and more environmentally friendly than digging up the roads and laying cable. It's also accelerates the rollout process. "It will take 18 months to roll out completely," a spokesman for H20 told PC Pro. "They will build 'tile-by-tile', and it should be possible to switch on as they go."

The rollout will begin in September, and H20 is in discussion with partner ISPs who will offer the service to consumers. Pricing details have yet to be finalised.

"This is just the start of bringing next-generation connectivity to the UK," says Elfed Thomas, CEO of H2O Networks. "We will be announcing more towns and cities which will benefit from Fibrecity over the coming months, and plan to have a nationwide network deployed over the next few years."