Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites will take part in government trials to boost internet connectivity across the British countryside.
More than 3,000 small satellites will beam broadband signals in three remote locations as part of the first step of the UK government's trials.
These are Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire Moors National Park, Wasdale Head in the Lake District and two sites within Snowdonia National Park.
Eventually, the pilot will see the extent to which the satellites can be used to deliver high-speed connections to more than a dozen ‘very hard to reach’ locations.
These include the less than 1% of sites which are too difficult to upgrade via expensive physical cables in more extreme locations such as mountainous areas or small islands.
Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said: "High-speed broadband beamed to earth from space could be the answer to the connectivity issues suffered by people in premises stuck in the digital slow lane.
"Ensuring everyone can get a quality internet connection is crucial to our levelling up plans and these trials aim to find a solution to the prohibitively high cost of rolling out cables to far-flung locations.
"We are also today kicking off plans for our biggest broadband build to date as we announce another £100 million is being spent as part of our Project Gigabit programme."
In a further broadband boost for rural areas, the government said it would triple the value of vouchers available under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.
From early next year, eligible homes and businesses will be able to apply for up to £4,500 to cover the costs of a gigabit-capable connection, up from £1,500 for homes and £3,500 for businesses previously.
The government said this would enable broadband providers to reach further into rural areas where the build costs are higher.
Could this improve rural business?
Much of rural Britain is crippled by poor broadband connectivity: the UK is 47th in the world for average broadband speed, but many remote areas struggle to get close to that.
Last year an NFU survey of mobile and broadband connectivity showed that 30% of farmers have broadband speeds below 2 Mbps.
And just 17 percent have access to speeds which are above 24 Mbps, compared to 96.5% of the overall population.
Starlink say that their broadband will offer speeds between 50 and 150 Mbps, with reports from customers piloting the service confirming they are consistently getting download speeds of around 80 Mbps.
