BETTER internet access for rural West Dorset is a step closer with an application to put up new antenna at the Eype transmitter.

The planning application comes from ntl, an international communications company which used to be the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) responsible for the administration, development and transmission of all commercial television and radio programmes in the UK.

ntl's regional planning surveyor Mike Smith said the company was actively engaged in sharing its site to stop the proliferation of masts in the countryside and towns.

The application for the new antenna has been made on behalf of Internet Infrastructure Systems Ltd, partnering Wessex Broadband, which was established in 2003 as an internet service provider for the south west. Now its aim is to increase internet access and introduce broadband internet connections to six rural communities along the south coast providing free access for community facilities.

Mr Smith said: "The proposal is to install two antennas on the existing tower in order to offer their services in the Bridport and surrounding area."

Mr Smith added that radio frequency emissions from the new antenna would still be below public exposure guidelines, even with existing equipment on site.

"We regularly make calculations to determine the worst case emissions from our sites, " he said.

"We also have an ongoing programme of site surveys to ensure that our calculations continue to be conservative. Our measurements continue to show that emissions from ntl sites are a small fraction of the International Commission Non-Ionising Radiation Protection guidelines. It is this fact that we consider to be important to our neighbours," he said.

Tim Snape, managing director of Wessex Broadband, said the new antenna would bring broadband access to Lyme Regis, Bridport, Salway Ash, Beaminster, Burton Bradstock, West Bexington, Shipton Gorge, Litton Cheney, Swyre, Puncknowle and Abbotsbury.

He added that they were working with Dorset County Council which would be part-funding the capital costs, meaning that schools would effectively be getting the wireless service for free.

Mr Snape said: "It saves the county council £10,000 a year, so it's a win-win situation for everyone and we can generate income from businesses and householders. We have also been talking to learning centres."

Mr Snape said that even if BT eventually connected towns such as Beaminster, which has only 45 people registering an interest in broadband against a trigger level of 450, remote villages nearby would still not benefit. "It's a community need more than anything," he added.