Ms Spelman said she wanted water companies to look at the possibility of connecting pipe networks so they could transfer water from wetter areas.

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The mains gas was being operated within normal pressure parameters and there were no signs to suggest the 20th Century pipe needed replacing urgently, although there were national plans to replace pipe networks whenever they came within 30m of a domestic building.

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Older networks were built for voice traffic with a data pipe running through it, but newer networks are for data only.

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The two mobile operators want to be able to pipe futuristic 4G services over parts of the radio spectrum that, on their networks, are reserved for earlier generations of mobile technology.

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The combination of smartphones and home Wi-Fi networks has taken the concept of a truly wireless connected home from a pipe dream to a reality.

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