Sewers: they’re not just for refuse anymore.
CableRunner North America said it has agreed to install up to two miles of fiber connectivity in San Francisco via the city’s sewer system.
The trial network will link numerous city government buildings, including San Francisco’s Department of Telecommunications and Information Services facility.
CableRunner, a closely held company operated by the City of Vienna, Austria, Water and Sewer Department, said it will launch the pilot project this month.
San Francisco initially used “conventional” rights-of-way for the first phase of its E-Net program, but the CableRunner proposal “allowed the city to connect buildings more difficult to reach,” the parties said.
CableRunner said about half of the trial will use human-accessible sewer pipes, while the other half will tap the company’s “FiberCop” robotics system to extend fiber to areas that are not as accessible.