Optimised network deployment

A method to configure a network for a specific deployment environment. A plan 420 is created which represents environmental features including an indication of locations where network element deployment is precluded. A network specification 422, a forecast demand for the network 410 and the plan 420 are provided as inputs to a network optimiser 404. An initial version of network layout 424 is created and fed into the network optimiser along with a measure of a performance metric 408. The network optimiser iteratively searches a library 406 which contains possible adaptations that can be applied to the network layout to satisfy the forecast demand and which will also improve the performance metric. The network optimiser uses heuristic search techniques, such as simulated annealing, hill climbing or guided local search, to search the library. The iterative search may be terminated when the improved performance metric meets a threshold value. The search results in a sequence of adaptations being identified that when implemented modify the network layout 424 such that on deployment a measure of the performance metric satisfies the threshold value. The plan may be a digital map of a geographic area that includes identification of premises.