South coast town Bournemouth has had its first 30 residential customers connected to H2O Networks' new 100Mbit/s optical fibre broadband network.

The project to sign-up businesses and residents to the Fibrecity next-generation network (NGN) has already hit 40 per cent take-up in the first phase deployment area since being offered the service last September, said H2O.

The Fibrecity initiative was launched in January last year, and selected Bournemouth as the first town to be cabled up last May, adding Scottish city Dundee as the next target last June.

Fibrecity's patented FS System allows fibre deployment in the sewer network.

"Using this existing duct means that the fibre can be laid up to 90 per cent faster and with far less disruption than is caused by major road digging," said H2O Networks in a statement.

"Bournemouth's newly connected homes will demonstrate the services that customers opting in to Fibrecity can deploy, from IPTV, to home automation, to remote home security and much more."

H2O Networks chief executive Elfed Thomas added: "The deployment is on schedule for completion by 2010, and we're having positive discussions with a number of key content providers that can provide wholesale access to Fibrecity customers."