INTERNET speeds 100 times faster than anything previously seen are on their way to Adur and Worthing in a move which could eventually create hundreds of jobs and bring a major boost to businesses.

Work is to commence soon laying the network of fibre optic cables in the district and borough that will increase average broadband speeds from 10 megabytes (mb) to 1,000mb or a gigabit.

This will allow vastly quicker upload speeds when transferring data and video something that could give businesses a key advantage.

The ultrafast broadband project, called Gigabit West Sussex, will initially connect local authority buildings including libraries, and will then expand to be available to businesses through a government gigabit voucher scheme and in further projects could be used to power public WiFi and support the new generation of 5G mobiles.

In other parts of the world, particularly America, ultrafast has created 1,000s of jobs, attracted new businesses and allowed existing ones to expand. New Smart Technologies will need faster and more reliable connectivity on which to operate.

According to a recent government report faster broadband has led to a £9 billion surge in turnover for businesses and has delivered £12.28 benefit for firms for every £1 invested by central and local authorities.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport says superfast broadband has now reached almost five million homes and businesses.

In the future the widespread use of gigabit fibre will increase efficiency and speed enabling quick downloads of complex data.

For now Gigabit West Sussex, a co-operative project involving the county council and all district and borough councils in the area, will provide super connectivity to 152 public sector sites in Worthing/Lancing, Shoreham, Bognor, Burgess Hill, Chichester, Crawley, Haywards Heath, Horsham and Littlehampton.

It is the first public sector project to be backed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) which contributed £4.6m of funding Adur and Worthing Councils have been in the forefront of the drive to bring ultrafast to West Sussex.

Network construction in Adur and Worthing, to power sites such as the Shoreham Centre and Worthing Library, will begin in October. A county-wide launch is expected in spring next year.