The government has announced a three-year trial to accelerate the rollout of broadband and mobile signal to rural areas using water pipes, while also reducing leakage from the water supply.
Four million pounds is available for cutting-edge innovators to trial what could be a quicker and more cost-effective way of connecting fibre optic cables to homes, businesses and mobile masts, without the disruption caused by digging up roads and land.
The project will also look to test solutions that reduce the amount of water lost every day due to leaks, which is 20% of the total put into the public supply. It will involve putting connected sensors in the pipes which allow water companies to improve the speed and accuracy with which they can identify a leak and repair it. Water companies have committed to delivering a 50% reduction in leakage and this project can help to reach that goal.
Richard Fuller, MP for the constituency of North East Bedfordshire said:
One of the biggest obstacles to providing new gigabit-capable broadband in our rural areas is the cost of installing infrastructure, which can make up four fifths of the cost and requires disruptive roadworks or digging up land.
That is why I welcome this £4million investment to support innovators in adapting our existing water pipe network to become dual-purpose – using the shared infrastructure to provide broadband and to monitor our pipe network to identify leaks and repair work.
Maximising our existing infrastructure with innovative trials like this one using fibre optic cables will speed up the rollout of broadband, so fast internet is as easily accessible in the some of the rural communities I represent, as the water in our pipes.
Deployment challenges for essential utilities such as water and telecoms are complex and tightly regulated because both are parts of the country’s critical national infrastructure. The project will consider these regulatory barriers as well as the economic, technical, cultural and collaborative challenges and impact on consumer bills.
Any solution used to trial fibre optic cables in the water mains will be approved by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) before being used in a real world setting. The DWI requires rigorous testing ahead of approving any products that can be used in drinking water pipes and fibre has already been deployed in water pipes in other countries such as Spain.
The government is considering giving broadband firms access to more than a million kilometres of underground utility ducts to boost the rollout of next-generation broadband - including electricity, gas and sewer networks - and will soon respond to a consultation on changing regulations to make infrastructure sharing easier.
The government has already given broadband suppliers access to existing infrastructure to help speed up roll out, with electricity poles used extensively throughout England to carry broadband cables.
The Fibre in Water project is due to conclude in March 2024. The final year of the project will explore scaling proven solutions right across the country.
Deadline for applications to the competition is 4 October.
