Urban Myth via Comcast: Robots In the Sewers of San Francisco

Cable World, June 9, 2003

Byline: ANDREA FIGLER

Comcast Corp.'s entrepreneurial spirit has reached new heights - or, literally, lows - in the upgrade of one of its recently acquired AT&T Broadband cable systems. To be exact, Comcast has gone underground, via the sewers, to lay fiber optic wires in the San Francisco system without disrupting residents and businesses with traditional trench construction.

Using remote-controlled robots - called "SAMs," for Sewer Access Modules - that plunged into the San Francisco sewer system, Comcast's subcontractor CityNet Telecommunications, a last-mile fiber optic construction company, laid 1,600 feet of fiber lines.

The process, which took a week to complete, proceeded without disruptions of residents' daily commutes, says Andrew Johnson, Comcast's spokesman for the system. Comcast may use the robots in the city again if another difficult trenching situation presents itself, he adds.

SAM is part of Comcast's promise to get its California systems, particularly the Bay Area system, up to par, according to a statement from Comcast obtained by Cable World.

"We're aggressively rebuilding the cable system across this city so that we can continue rolling out advanced broadband services such as high-speed Internet and high-definition television for our customers," said Nick Nocchi, the system's area VP, in the statement. "We're pleased that CityNet was able to take advantage of the existing sewer infrastructure to greatly minimize the disruption to downtown residents and businesses."

The robot system is key to the upgrade of downtown and central district areas, says Lee Allentuck, a CityNet spokesman. While he says there have been talks to use this robot in other Comcast systems, he would not disclose further details.

Comcast is the first cable operator to use CityNet's fiber system. The company has wired municipalities such as Los Angeles, Albuquerque, N.M., and Seville, Spain.