The company which sells bespoke networks to business customers bought the
sewer-based fibre optic network in 2006 for 1.5 million pounds.  As it
announces an extension of the network to London's South Bank, Reuters
Technology Correspondent Matt Cowan heads down to London's Victorian sewer
system to get a glimpse of the UK's newest fibre optic network. 

 London, UK, Reuters -
In London, broadband and data hungry businesses has been benefitting from
an intricate system developed back in Victorian times.  
 
  Namely, the sewer system.

  What place does a state of the art fibre optic network have in an
underground sewer system built thanks to the big stink of 1858?

  Thames Water which maintains the sewer system and Geo, the
telecommunications company that owns the fibre optic network offered to take
us on a tour.  How could you turn down an offer like that?

  Geo's London sales director Mark Ryder says while it may not look like
much, this is an ideal place to host the backbone of the network that carries
the sensitive information of its business consumers.

 Mark Ryder, Sales Director, Geo saying:
  "The fact that you don't have to dig up the street.  We've got far
quicker installation times.  That the network is very secure and it's fibre
optic end to end.  When you start to explain those benefits I think all
customers start to get it really quickly."

  That said, running a network through a sewer system does present its own
unique challenges.  Like rats.  But Thames Water's Rob Smith says the ducts
were built to withstand gnawing teeth and that preventative measure has
worked. 

  What's more, he says forward thinking is something that both the 21st
century data network and Victorian era sewage network both illustrate.

Rob Smith, Catchment Engineer, Thames Water 
"I don't see it as two worlds colliding.  I see it really as we
inherited a fantastic sewer system that's as we've said before over 100 years
old. Hopefully someone will be standing here in a hundred years time saying we
inherited not only a great sewer system but also got an up to date, forward
thinking communications network within that sewer system."

  These days the big stink in the telecoms sector is over the challenges
posed by bandwidth hungry services like BBC's iPlayer and while BT says it
plans to invest 3 billion dollars to roll-out superfast broadband to consumers
in the UK, Geo says its network is well positioned to meet the requirements of
tomorrow's business consumers as so far it's only using one of the four
ducts.
  
Matt Cowan, Reuters.