A TRANSATLANTIC cable being laid from America will turn Fareham into the Silicon Valley of Britain, it is claimed.

Sixty per cent of the world's Internet services will be carried along the fibre optic cable through Fareham to London, says Fareham Borough Council leader Sean Woodward.

The town will act as a docking station for the cable which will hit land at Cams Hall, where a distribution centre or teleport is being set up by Merlin Communications Ltd.

No other area in the country, including London, will be able to offer the same facilities, Mr Woodward believes.

The cable is being installed by communications company Project Oxygen and will feed data via an electronic superhighway to the capital.

The town will be one of only a handful of land links in the world and will contribute to its reputation of being one of England's hi-tech centres.

"This makes Fareham the very heart of Great Britain's Silicon Valley. Siting the teleport here means that, if firms locate near here, they are going to benefit from the speed at which data is sent up to London," said Mr Woodward.

"It is astonishing to think that 60 per cent of the world's Internet traffic will flow through Fareham on its way to London. It is great news for technology in the area."

Merlin Communications' distribution centre will trans-mit date across the world via terrestrial and satellite links for customers such as the BBC World Service.

The Project Oxygen transatlantic cable is expected to revolutionise the delivery of Internet services.

Companies will be able to buy a cable width or part of one to enable information to be transported at top speed, thus increasing business efficiency and bringing much-needed jobs to the area.

Merlin said it originally chose Fareham partly because of the mild climate. Where they have led others have been seen to follow, including Project Oxygen. The move by Merlin to the town has created up to 50 jobs.

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