Deployment of the UK's next-generation broadband networks could be fast-tracked through the use of national sewer networks, according to Ofcom.

The regulator is conducting a survey of the country's underground ducts to see if they might be used to carry fibre cables, which can offer broadband speeds of up to 100Mbit/s. It will also investigate the possibility of using existing water and electric pipes to carry the networks.

The review will last six months, and forms part of Ofcom's wider strategy to ensure the swift roll-out of high-speed broadband to new housing built over the next 12 years. The regulator says that three million homes are forecast to be built by 2020, at a rate of roughly 240,000 per year.

"Super-fast broadband – next generation access and networks – are crucial to the UK's future," said Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards, in a speech to the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

"These networks form part of the critical infrastructure of the country's economy."