BT has put £5 million into a startup aiming to establish a drone pathway across southern and central England for transporting goods and other items.

The telecommunications company's digital hub, Etc, is investing the funds in , a drone company, to help with its Project Skyway.

This plan entails creating a 165-mile drone route above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry, and Rugby. The goal is to make it the UK's primary drone route and the world's longest of its kind.

The ultimate objective is to establish a network that connects towns and cities while also linking transportation and delivery centers throughout the country.

Altitude Angel is developing software to detect and identify drones, as well as allow them to safely share airspace with manned aircraft.

Manna, another company with drone operations in Ireland, has partnered with Tesco to deliver essential supplies. Under the £5 million agreement, BT Group will provide the necessary infrastructure for Altitude Angel to deploy its software.

Tom Guy, the head of BT Group’s Etc hub, expressed support for innovative companies like Altitude Angel, which can benefit from BT Group's resources and growth strategy.

Dave Pankhurst, BT Group’s director of drones, will join Altitude Angel’s board as part of the deal.

Guy emphasised that this partnership will introduce cutting-edge drone solutions to the market, leveraging digital innovation and network strength to meet consumer and business needs.

Altitude Angel's founder and CEO, Richard Parker, highlighted the shared ambition with BT Group to make large-scale automated drone operations a reality in the UK.

He explained that their Arrow technology, which facilitates safe coexistence of manned and unmanned aircraft, combined with BT Group’s robust communications infrastructure, will pave the way for nationwide drone pathways, revolutionising various industries.

Many people and anti-drone groups are of course crying out over the plan with privacy concerns. These drones are not like the average hobbyist or consumer drones, they're developed, programmed to ushered along preset flight paths where they're monitored and directed by ground stations. They have a dedicated job, and the navigation and safety systems in place will focus only on this.