The key benefit is that it makes it possible to deploy broadband with comparatively little disruption (fewer roads being dug up for starters). The company estimates that it woult cost a maximum of £24 million to connect a small city compared with £80 million in cost via traditional routes.

This idea isn’t without precedent. In the 1980’s Mercury Communications (a subsidiary of Cable and Wireless) acquired the defunct London Hydraulic Power Company which was originally founded by act of Parliament in 1883 to provide high pressure water to buildings in central london to power elevators, machinery etc. Mercury used the old water pipes to deploy their network in central london – offering the first “alternative” to the monopoly of British Telecom.

I imagine that you’re already thinking about the jokes that will be coined by this one, indeed posters to the Times site have already been hard at work..

This could cause one hell of a stink if it fails to produce the desired increase in speed.PG, Ammanford, UK

My immediate thought – given the stuff that ends up in my spam-filter – is that it’s a very appropriate pairing, since the pipes and the fibre will both be transporting more or less the same thing, by and large.

The reason I’m blogging this is that this is a great example of ingenuity – a way to deliver technology with a minimal environmental impact. It rocks.