Sewer Net to Launch in London

LONDON -- Roger Wilson is the CEO of the telecoms joint venture between Thames Water and Lattice Group, it was announced today. The independent company, which will officially launch at the end of January 2002, is conducting a phased rollout of next-generation network infrastructure across London. By utilising the existing sewerage system, the company will cut the time it takes to connect London businesses to a high-capacity, high reliability broadband network by up to 50% using 'minimum dig' fibre connectivity. Not only does this enable the provisioning times to be cut, it reduces the environmental and congestion problems caused by traditional cable laying practice in the Capital.Roger Wilson, Chief Executive Officer, Thames Water and Lattice Group joint venture said: "We have identified a gap in the market and will meet the niche needs of carriers and multi-national businesses by delivering broadband optical connections direct to end-user customers across London. Despite the horrendous amount of digging and disruption in London, BT is still the only operator with extensive 'last-mile' connectivity. This means that competition and choice for the customer is limited and availability and affordability of high-bandwidth broadband applications remains scarce. Not only are we opening up the choice of supplier to the customer, we can deliver connectivity using 'minimum dig' technology, reducing environmental disruption and cutting the time it takes to connect customers to the 'last-mile' in London."