Broadband provider Virgin Media has launched an experimental program to deliver high-speed broadband to rural areas using telegraph poles to bypass the older copper wire network.
Initial trials have started to provide the village of Woolhampton with 50 megabit connections using fibre-optic cables strung along specially constructed telegraph poles rather than under the ground.
Virgin say that if the trial is successful and they can get planning permission for more poles then they could potentially roll the scheme out to a million more homes.
New systems for getting high-speed broadband to rural areas are likely to be welcomed by the government who have promised to enable universal broadband access by 2012.
