Technology firm H2O Networks had included the town on a shortlist of three to receive a new fibre optics system, delivering internet speeds many times faster than existing broadband.

But the company has chosen rival candidate Bournemouth to pioneer the network, with 88,000 homes and businesses in the Dorset seaside town set to be linked up later this year.

According to H2O Networks managing director Elfed Thomas, however, Northampton is next in line to receive the fibre optics system, along with third shortlisted town Dundee.

"Bournemouth is the first town we will be covering, but Northampton is certainly not being ignored," he said.

"Our next step is to engage with the authorities in Northampton and conduct a feasibility study, with a view to providing complete coverage there in the next 12 months."

H2O Networks has been providing fibre-optic broadband to businesses and universities throughout the UK for several years, and the key to its future expansion plans are Britain's 360,000 miles of sewers.

The company is set to begin installing miles of cable into Bournemouth's underground sewerage network in September, allowing the town complete access to its services in a fraction of the time it would take by digging up the roads.

Anglian Water has already held talks with H2O Networks about the prospect of installing fibre-optic cables in Northampton's sewers, and has said the scheme is "feasible".

The network would provide internet speeds of up to 100Mbps (megabits per second) - more than 10 times normal household broadband speeds - and Northampton Borough Council leader Councillor Tony Woods said it could provide a "significant boost" to the town.

He said: "Northampton is already a hotspot in terms of new business start-ups and having that kind of communication technology would only help the economy even further.

"While we are disappointed not to have been chosen first, if we are next in line then that is excellent news."