Swindon could be only the second town in Britain to have a 5G mobile broadband network set up.

And if it does, according to experts, it will make the town much more attractive to major companies and also vastly increase speeds of download for domestic users

Councillor Oliver Donachie - the borough council’s cabinet member for economic development - and Glyn Peach the director of digital services at Euclid Street told councillors on the Growing the Economy Scrutiny Committee that network provider Three were willing to provide such an upgrade.

And Swindon is able to get an upgraded network through good fortune.

Coun Donachie said: “The town’s 4G network was set up by a company called Relish, which was then acquired by Three. They not only bought the masts but also the spectrum which would allow an upgrade to 5G. As part of the contract Three have to provide us with a hardware update - we’ve said to them instead of going up the ladder to provide more 4G why didn’t they just give us 5G instead? And Three have said they;’re willing to do this.”

If it comes off, Coun Donachie called the new faster network a “game changer.”

He said: “If you want to download a big series, like Game of Thrones, to your phone, it’ll take you seconds, instead of hours.

“For companies that live on the internet it’ll be massive- more bandwidth ,means more data and it means more productivity.”

The boss of Three Uk, David Dyson has said that the 5g network is so fast most domestic consumers would be able to abandon the fixed copper wire of fibre connection to their home, relying on mobile wireless connectivity instead.

And Coun Donachie said having the capacity sooner than other places would give Swindon a competitive advantage in attracting business to the town.

He said: “Companies will be knocking on our door. There are businesses that don’t care so much about location or what their offices are like; they care most about their broadband connection - and if we can say we’ve got 3G in Swindon before anywhere else, except London, it will be massive for us.”

Ian Larrard , director of Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative at Business West, said: “We have a strong contingent of digital and high value manufacturing businesses in Swindon, who require 5G and fully-fibre networks to adapt and stay globally competitive.

Moreover, a whole host of emerging technologies tipped to play an important role in the future economy, such as AI and autonomous vehicles, are dependent on a robust 5G network, so it is right that Swindon is one of the first in the queue to receive 5G.

“If we are successful in our Institute of Technology bid too, it goes without saying that Swindon needs the digital infrastructure in place to cultivate a highly-skilled workforce that is fit for the jobs of the future.”

Mr Dyson said: “5G delivers a huge increase in capacity together with ultra-low latency. It opens up new possibilities in home broadband and industrial applications, as well as being able to support the rapid growth in mobile data usage.

“This is a major investment into the UK’s digital infrastructure. UK consumers have an insatiable appetite for data and 5G unlocks significant capability to meet that demand.

“We have been planning our approach to 5G for many years and we are well positioned to lead on this next generation of technology. These investments are the latest in a series of important building blocks to deliver the best end to end data experience for our customers.”

Mr Peach told committee he hoped it, and all councillors, would support his team’s initiative and enable the 5G network to be supplied here within the next year.

Although it would be able to use already existing telecoms masts, a changes to allow the upgrade will have to go through the council’s planning process.