Bournemouth gets broadband…

Promising super-fast broadband for everyone, Bournemouth has been chosen as the home for the UK’s first “Fibrecity,” because of its superb, err… sewer system!

Yes, Bournemouth will soon be the first city in England to boast the Fibrecity status, and not because of it’s notoriety as a colourful seaside city that comes complete with tacky tourist attractions and over-priced souvenirs.

Oh no, the reason that H2O Networks has chosen Bournemouth over 49 other English cities goes a lot deeper underground than that…

Because of their waste water system, the people of Bournemouth will soon be the privileged residents of a Fibrecity. And all this week, as a welcoming present, every home and business in the Bournemouth Borough Boundary will be invited to connect to the network for free.

The British seaside city, renowned for its seven miles of “golden” sand, will have fibre-optic cables installed into its pipelines, meaning its residents will all soon be able to take advantage of services such as IPTV and home medical monitoring, and businesses will have 22nd Century connectivity at their fingertips.

A typical house in revolutionary Bournemouth will not look misplaced in an episode of The Jetsons.

Work to install the fibre-optic cables, which will cost about £30million and will be entirely funded by H2O Networks, will begin as soon as September, but there will be little, if any disruption to the city, as laying the cables in the sewer system will happen completely underground.

As a cost effective alternative to installing cables aboveground, the project will deliver ultra high bandwidth to all 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. And users will have unlimited access to FTTH (fibre-to-the-home), meaning faster downloads and more communication opportunities.

Brilliant news for the people of Bournemouth, as the normally very expensive installation costs will be reduced because the sewer system is already in place. So providers will be able to reflect these savings in competitively priced service packages.

The estimated completion date for all the cables to be installed is September 2010, buying everyone else enough time to pack up their belongings and relocate to the special city.

Or alternatively, you could wait for the next Fibrecity to be built. But who’s next for the underground treatment? Well, Dundee will be the first Scottish Fibrecity, and after that, the world is H20 Network’s oyster. I’m placing my bet’s that it’ll be a little while before London gets fibre-ised…

Oh, and here’s a little bit of bonus trivia for all of you who were wondering, there are 50 cities in England, and 66 in the whole of the UK. I counted them all myself.

 BT’s ‘High Fibre’ Diet

BT’s declaration to supply super-fast fibre networks to 10 million homes by 2012 has caused much consternation and speculation in the telecoms sector.

A number of major players have backed BT’s incentive, but questioned its motives where market share is concerned.

Will your ISP adopt this new technology, or be left lagging behind? Here’s a round up of how four leading ISPs reacted to the prospect of superfast 100Mb networks, and described their level of participation in this movement.

O2 Broadband

O2 is tentatively considering the option of supplying 100Mb to homes via BT’s proposed fibre network, but needs concrete promises from BT before it gets the cheque book out.

An O2 spokesperson told ZDnet.co.uk the following:

“We need clear and unambiguous regulation in place before we start shelling out huge sums of money.”

Be Broadband

Be Broadband’s Oli White is similarly wary of a BT monopoly, but would be glad to hop on board given the necessary assurances.

He told BroadbandChoices:

“If BT follows the same model as we have in place now it will allow Be to offer more than 20meg broadband to far more than the existing 6% of the population. But if BT is allowed to take advantage of its monopolistic position and prevent ISPs like Be from delivering an exceptional service to customers, it will be a missed opportunity.”

Virgin Media

In terms of delivering super-fast broadband, Virgin Media has a two year head start on BT and will introduce a 50Mb service within the next few months.

Despite the ‘head to head’ nature of its relationship with BT, Virgin Media is, at the very least, backing BT’s intentions. A Virgin Media spokesperson had the following to say:

“We strongly support BT’s call for a stable regulatory environment that rewards both current and future investment. We will continue working closely with Ofcom and the government to achieve this.”

Sky

Sky went on the front foot by challenging Ofcom to maintain the competitive climate in the broadband sector. A Sky spokesman said:

“BT has much to offer but consumers will lose out if the right conditions are not in place to allow other providers to compete effectively.”

Ofcom replied by assuring Sky and other providers it will provide additional regulatory detail following BT’s announcement, based on providing the right incentives for operators to invest. Additionally, Ofcom pledged to publish a more detailed proposal for the regulatory framework in September.