BUSINESSES in Addingham could be left behind in the technological revolution because the community may be too small to support a new advance in communications.

Firms and home users wanting to make use of the more efficient Broadband Internet access have been told by one service provider there are not enough potential users in the small village community to make the service economically viable.

Broadband Internet access - as opposed to accessing the internet via a modem and normal telephone lines - allows businesses and home users to access electronic information up to 40 times more quickly, and in greater quantities. An increasing number of both leisure and commercial websites require more efficient internet access.

Interior designer Carole Pickles, 34, believes access to Broadband Internet will enable her to work more efficiently from home in Addingham.

She said: "It provides fast internet access. You don't need to keeping logging on and checking your e-mails, it connects instantly. It obviously increases your effectiveness."

Ms Pickles, who runs Paint Solutions in Ilkley, says she would be able to do more work at home if she had the use of Broadband.

But she was told by BT that not enough people in Addingham, and in similar rural communities, have expressed an interest.

It is not the first time Addingham has felt 'left out' when it comes to the expansion in global communications. Parish councillors took radio and television bosses to task over difficulties encountered in picking up some terrestrial television and radio channels in the village.

Many small communities are being denied Broadband access as the cost of investing in the equipment and connections required to access Broadband communications, says BT, outweighs the potential profit to be made from so few customers.

A BT spokesman said even some towns were finding that demand is not great enough to justify a service provider installing the necessary digital communications equipment in the local telephone exchange. Most home and business users would then have been able to access the service via their existing telephone lines.

If approached by people interested in gaining Broadband access, the firm sets a 'target' for the number of interested parties required before the service will be made available. Skipton, for example, has a target of 400 expressions of interest, and is nearing that mark.

So far, just 25 people in Addingham have expressed an interested in BT's broadband scheme - but the village has not even had a target set, as it is currently far from financially viable for the company to install Broadband.

BT says it could require a demand from hundreds of people before the service was provided. But the spokesman said that despite most major centres of population being given the ability to receive Broadband, a disappointingly small percentage of internet users have signed up - thus making telecommunications companies think twice before investing more money in extending the service.

BT says there are other ways people in rural villages may be able to access Broadband, and it is looking into new ways of doing this. People in Addingham are currently able to use Broadband Internet via satellite communications, but this would cost around £60 per month. Land-based Broadband access costs around half the price.

BT says it is also considering options for small communities such as using a locally-based radio network to transmit Broadband, although in some parts of the country, communities have got together, and sought help from European Community money or business funding. The company says it is not solely responsible for Broadband provision in the country, and there are several other telecommunications networks operating Broadband Internet access.