A YORKSHIRE Dales village is to pilot ground-breaking technology which could provide a solution to the problem of delivering high-speed internet to remote communities.

However, as residents of West Witton, near Leyburn, await more details of the Airwave rural broadband scheme, villagers in nearby Preston-under-Scar continue to experience problems with service loss and slow broadband speeds as BT continues its roll-out of superfast broadband across the county.

Slough-based Airwave is hoping to use its experience as a supplier of communications technology to the emergency services to provide high-speed broadband to communities around the country which cannot be connected via wired technology.

The company has been selected to conduct feasibility tests by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

West Witton is one of several communities in the county put forward by Nynet, which is responsible for delivering high-speed broadband in North Yorkshire, as suitable for a pilot.

It is hoped that a live trial will begin by April next year, with presentation to villagers planned and residents to sign up.

Euros Evans, chief technology officer at Airwave, said: "We have tackled coverage issues in remote and rural areas before and hope that we can now apply our knowledge of innovative communications technologies to help find a solution for those rural communities who need better broadband access.

"As someone who lives on a remote farm in Wales, I know how difficult it can be, which is why I’m excited about the potential solutions being tested in North Yorkshire.”

Like West Witton, Preston-under-Scar is set to miss out on the roll-out of superfast 25 Mbps broadband by BT.

Villagers have experienced repeated problems of service losses in recent weeks.

Writing to Richmond MP William Hague on behalf of the parish council, Cllr Anna Hacket Pain said: "Since your intervention and help, the frequency and extent of problems in the village have considerably decreased, but unfortunately not gone away."

She added: "One family was without a service for some two weeks; a difficult situation for them as they manage their businesses from home using the telephone and the internet. That BT and/or their contractor caused the problem is not in doubt.

"In the second case, the customer’s phone line to their home in the wayside cabinet had been deliberately disconnected by BT and/or its contractors, and the wires left hanging."

BT said Openreach are working on upgrades to the network serving Preston.

A spokeswoman added: "The work involves around 400m of underground cabling and duct work which should complete before the end of next month."

The company added that this was a very remote location and the constraints of technology, including the distance from the exchange, would certainly impact on broadband speeds.