PA Consulting has submitted a report to the minister assessing the feasibility of connecting Northern Ireland to a submarine cable which travels from Halifax, Nova Scotia, north of Ireland, then loops southeast to Southport in northwest England.

An industry expert close to the project estimated the total cost of laying a spur into Belfast to come in at close to $100m. A DETI spokeswoman said minister Dodds would make a final decision in the autumn "if the project is deemed viable and funding is made available".

Although London is the European hub for the heavy trunk cables that underpin global data networks, Ireland has an important position because one of the two transatlantic submarine cables linking North America to Europe connects directly into Dublin. This cable is owned by utility magnate Ken Peterson through his New York and Dublin-based firm, Hibernia Atlantic.

The cable linking Halifax with Southport is also owned by Hibernia Atlantic , itself a subsidiary of Peterson's Columbia Ventures Corporation (CVC), reported to have assets in excess of $500m.

Beaches along the north Antrim coast are understood to have been surveyed as possible landing points for the heavily armoured underwater fibre optics. It's envisaged such a cable would then terminate in Belfast's new Titanic quarter, where the city is hoping to attract international financial and high tech firms as part of its �3bn redevelopment of the site.

Businesses that rely on rapidly communicating massive amounts of information around the world tend to cluster close to the physical trunk cables that provide the backbone of the internet.

Proximity reduces latency and makes it less likely that data packets are lost over the vast distances spanned by global telecommunications networks.

"We'd be delighted to get this cable coming into Belfast because it would put us on a level playing field with other cities competing for these types of businesses, " said Paul Graham of Titanic Quarter Ltd, the company set up to oversee the �3bn redevelopment of the 185-acre Belfast waterfront . . . formerly the site of the Harland and Wolfe shipyards where the Titanic was constructed.

Graham pointed to the success of cities in India in attracting international financial institutions soon after trunk fibre cables were laid at the turn of the century. He said Belfast could become a sterling area alternative to London because the British capital's threat from international terrorist attacks makes it more likely that trunk telecommunications cables there could be damaged.

The 7 July attacks on London's Underground in 2005 knocked out both mobile and land-based telecommunication networks.

"This link could be absolutely vital to the success of the Northern Ireland economy, " said Eric Gutshall, executive vice president at Hibernia Atlantic. "If you look at Dublin today it's a case study on how these high bandwidth connections help to attract all types of businesses and create more business for indigenous telcos. To do the same for Belfast would be a mammoth undertaking and we're very excited."

DIGIWEB GO MOBILE

DIGIWEB quietly launched its mobile broadband offering in the Fingal area of north county Dublin last week. The internet service provider is offering services to Balbriggan, Ballyboughal, Blanchardstown, Clonsilla, Corduff, Donabate, Kinsealy, Mulhuddart, Portmarnock, Rush, St Margarets and Swords. The 'Solr' package costs 19.95 a month for speeds of up to 5.3 Mbps, with a 10Gb monthly data limit, and five cents for every extra megabyte downloaded beyond that limit. Upload speeds are understood to be 1.3Mbps. The 29.95 'Multi' package includes a 15Gb data limit and an extra router for home use. Customers must pay a 99 activation fee.