FORGET Silicon Valley – welcome to the Humber Digital Estuary.

This is the vision of Hull held by telecoms firm KC, whose new "lightning speed" broadband promises to open up a world of opportunity for businesses and individuals in the region.

The company is laying a fibre-optic network, offering speeds of up to 100Mb per second.

The fibre cables will reach 15,000 homes and businesses by the end of the year, allowing users to download music albums in just two seconds, hour-long television shows in 31 seconds and high-definition films in one to two minutes.

And there is potential for the fibre-based internet to go much faster – KC is already trialling speeds of nearly 400mbps.

Sean Royce, commercial and finance director at KC, said: "The great thing about fibre is it is future-proof.

"The fibre network could last forever because it is as fast as the speed of light.

"The only thing that limits the speed is what you use to transfer the signals at either end."

Mr Royce likened KC's investment in the project to Siemens's £80 million plans for a wind turbine factory in Hull.

"This is a huge investment from KC," he said. "It is very expensive but the benefits will be huge.

"Our network will be as fast, if not faster, than anywhere else in the UK."

Digital industries already generate £130 billion – 10 per cent of the UK's gross added value – and the sector employs about 6 per cent of the UK workforce.

And it has continued to grow by about 4 per cent each year throughout the downturn.

"We want to bring more of that business here," Mr Royce said.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't turn this area into a "digital estuary".

"We have already seen a whole host of new digital companies starting up in this area.

"It is the digital sector that will drive growth in the UK."

Mr Royce believes the super-fast broadband offers huge opportunities for start-up companies from online retailers and advertisers to companies specialising in building applications and games.

Faster broadband can increase productivity and makes it easier for people to use more applications, store data through cloud computing and work remotely.

People can set up companies online from home, saving on the huge capital costs associated with office space or storage.

There are a number of firms which have spun out of the University Of Hull's prestigious digital games programming course, many of whose graduates go on to work for industry leaders, such as Disney and Split Second.

KC has set up the KC Invest fund to help start-up firms working in the digital sector in the region.

It hopes its fibre broadband will provide a further boost.

KC alone is worth £150 million and generates three per cent of Hull's GDP.

It has been estimated the roll-out of super-fast broadband across the UK could create 600,000 jobs with £18 billion added to GDP.

"Wouldn't it be great to bring some of those jobs here and stimulate the local economy using our fibre network?" said Mr Royce.

A recent report by the Centre for Cities claimed Hull was more vulnerable to rises in unemployment due to its lack of skilled workers.

Mr Royce believes a healthy digital technology sector would address this imbalance.

He said: "Attracting and sustaining jobs and attracting knowledge workers off the back of our digital technology sector is vital, they go hand in hand."

Mr Royce said trying to prepare for future advances in digital technology was partly as case of planning for the unknown.

He said: "When it comes to the future of the Internet, you don't know what you don't know.

"No one could have predicted the way broadband has transformed out lives.

"Our children's lives now are very different to what ours were like, due to the internet.

"They way they shop, socialise and play games has completely changed since 20 years ago, or even five years ago.

"So who knows what will happen over the next ten years?

"There are probably men somewhere in Silicon Valley right now devising a robot that will do your housekeeping.

"Well, why shouldn't it be happening here?"