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Weather balloons floating in the Earth's atmosphere at the moment could possibly be used to provide mobile phone and broadband services to Rural Britain.

An American company, Space Data, has had success with an innovative idea, whereby it attaches small phone masts to weather balloons. This then provides isolated areas with wireless internet access.

The Arizona based group has provided military and commercial clients for four years and are now prepared to link their idea with telecoms and broadband companies in order to bring their idea to the masses.

The working behind the novel wireless provider is that a very small transceiver is attached to the weather balloon that then rises to a total altitude of 100,000ft. According to the company, one balloon can produce a signal that is as strong as 80 mobile phone towers and could therefore enable a lot more people to have broadband internet connections. The company also believe that for the entire United States, 70 balloons would be all that was needed to provide everyone with wireless internet.

The balloons are released by local farmers and other land workers who are paid to deploy them. The balloons are released in areas that have not had wireless internet connections due to the companies who provide them considering it uneconomic, as there are few people in the area.

Around 20% of the United States is out of range for any wireless connection, and it has long been an issue in Britain that many rural areas are unable to receive a wireless signal or are expected to pay over the odds in order to get one, therefore, meaning that they have no option for cheap broadband. Consequently, if this idea was to take off, there would be a large number of people who would benefit.

Space Data are very productive at the moment and release around 10 balloons a day from places in South America that do not receive a wireless signal and is interested in providing its service for the UK. This service is one of many that have seen the potential and the financial benefits that the rural wireless connection market could offer.

Space Data have said that companies that are not offering rural areas a wireless connection are missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The group have said that they have tapped into a business that is potentially worth $10 billion market.

It would appear that there is a solution to the wireless connection problem, however, not a very long-term one, as the balloons last 24 hours before they burst. The expensive equipment then has to be retrieved; this is done using GPS devices. Environmental groups have said that they fear that the burst balloons could prove a threat to any animals that may eat the latex.

The limited time that the balloons last could prove expensive and difficult, however, if the company could arrive at an idea that would enable the balloons to last longer, then the skies the limit.

Space Data has decided to link their weather balloon idea with telecoms and broadband companies.

The weather balloons could mean that more people are able to receive wireless broadband connections.

Some rural areas in Britain are unable to get a cheap broadband connection as they have to pay over the odds just to receive a basic connection.

Stephen Timms, the UK's minister for competitiveness, warned last year that the UK risks falling behind in the race to providing super-fast broadband networks, claiming the situation to be "21st century's equivalent of the great arms race".

Timms drew up comparisons between our current broadband networks to those used in Japan and Korea, the world's leaders in broadband speeds, questioning why the UK should be allowed to fall behind.

The average advertised speed in Japan was 93Mbps in 2007, and South Korea's 43Mbps. Compare this to the average advertised speed of 10Mbps in the UK, with actual download speeds in the region of 4.5Mbps its easy to see where Timms is coming from.

The answer, it would seem, to stepping up our broadband networks is easy enough - a nationwide roll-out of fibre optic networks. The practicability and cost factors involved with such a roll out however, are where businesses and government officials start to stumble.

With an estimated cost of 7 to 15Bn, Ofcom, the UK's telecommunications regulatory body is having a hard time trying to convince any one company to invest.

It's been raised that what Timms didn't take into consideration is the concentration of residence in Japan and South Korea, where network speeds are at their highest. As, once you move out of the big cities and into the vast rural areas, the situation with slow or no broadband access isn't all that dissimilar to that experienced here in the UK.

Realistically it would seem that there is no "quick-fix" solution to the problem.

Various experiments and trials are being commissioned around the country with regards to implementing fibre networks, which will of course help towards the cause.

Moreover, even though it does not compare to other countries' networks, the UK is expected to be able to have the networks in place to increase advertised broadband download rates to 24Mbps over the coming years; which is a considerable improvement based on current standards.

Liam is a UK based author, currently focusing on broadband Compare cheap broadband online today.