Chattanooga in Tennessee is an unlikely role model but companies based in certain business precincts in Adelaide will be offered internet speeds at least 10 times the speed of the national broadband network as the city becomes the first in Australia to join the growing Gig City movement.

In practical terms, the lightning-fast download speeds and fatter "pipes" which come from the existing SABRENet network which already connects South Australia's universities and major research authorities will be offered to companies based in seven different precincts including the Techport site where the ASC submarine and shipbuilding operations are located.

Chattanooga has reinvented itself as a hub for hi-tech businesses after the city's electricity utility, EPB, installed a fibre optic network that allowed ultra-fast broadband. It was the first of the "one gigabit" speed cities to set up, and has been followed by a string of other cities in the US.

Ultra-high internet speeds have helped revitalise Chattanooga in Tennessee and now parts of Adelaide will do the same as it becomes a Gig City. iStock

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill on Monday announced that $4.7 million would be invested by his government in turning Adelaide into a "Gig City" by making the SABRENet optical fibre network available to businesses. The roll-out will start at the end of 2016.

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