A superfast broadband initiative is being revamped after just 35 businesses in the city signed up.

The Government’s £100 million broadband voucher scheme was launched in January with Brighton and Hove one of 22 cities where SMEs were offered up to £3,000 to install a high-speed internet.

A pot of £1.5 million was available to more than 500 city companies from the Super Connected Cities scheme.

But after 35 took took up the offer the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has overhauled the scheme, which businesses have until March 2015 to sign up to.

The application process has been streamlined, while internet service providers now have greater flexibility to tailor their products to suit customers.

A re-designed website was launched on Monday.

Some SMEs have been reluctant to shell out up to £400 a month for a high-quality leased line and are opting to share with others in their building.

This means 100Mpbs for £600 a month becomes 20Mbps for £120 if shared with five companies - compared more than £400 a month for 20Mbps on their own.

Meanwhile the voucher scheme can also be used by a business to upgrade from a 40Mbps ADSL to a 80Mbps fibre broadband at a jump of £40 to £50 a month.

Council leader Jason Kitcat said: “There is no doubt that this government programme has been more complex and difficult than we had originally hoped.

“This has been due to the need to comply with competition law and the complexities of UK broadband infrastructure.

“Although take-up has so far been limited, we hope that the changes announced by government earlier this week will be instrumental in seeing demand in Brighton and Hove gain momentum.

“The government is re-doubling its efforts to promote the scheme, and so is the council. We believe take-up among the city’s business community will start to rise rapidly in the near future.”

David Elliott, managing director of approved supplier OptaNet, based in Brighton, said: “This is a huge opportunity for businesses. There is a small window of opportunity for SMEs to take a giant leap forward in their internet connection.

“If you’re a landlord or tenant sharing a commercial building you can also pool your vouchers to pay for a new faster shared connection.

“This means commercial landlords have also benefited as their properties are connected up to modern fibre optic broadband.”