TV white spaces 'viable' for internet connectivity
The use of the unused channels between TV broadcast signals would be an ideal technology to bring internet connectivity to historically disadvantaged areas where laying cables is often expensive and time-consuming.
Teachers will benefit from the new development. (Image: Vgrigas, via Wikimedia Commons)
This is according to Arno Hart, the TV white spaces project manager for the Tertiary Education Network (Tenet).
On Friday, US internet giant Google, along with Tenet and other partners, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's Meraka Institute, the Wireless Access Providers Network, e-Schools Network and Carlson Wireless, announced the end of a year-long trial to use the white spaces between TV broadcast signals for internet connectivity.
The trial took place in Bellville, Cape Town, with a radio mast placed on top of the University of Stellenbosch Medical School's roof and with 10 local schools connected to it.
TV white spaces are the areas deliberately left clear between the broadcasting signals of TV channels to minimise interference.
However, advances in technology mean that the TV spectrum can be used far more efficiently than it is at present.
Boosting GDP growth
An international telecommunications report on the effect of broadband on the economy last year said that every 10% increase in broadband penetration levels could add between 0.9 and 1.5 percentage points to a country's gross domestic product growth.
Earlier last week the Western Cape provincial government announced that it was embarking on a limited, R3m project to start rolling out free internet connectivity to some disadvantaged areas.
Hart said such a project would be ideal for the use of TV white space technology. "TV white space technology does not replace any other technology (such as fibreoptic cables or cellular connections), but rather complements them in a very cheap, but efficient manner."
He said the Bellville trial had pushed the technology envelope in that it used areas in the spectrum between two adjacent TV channels with no interference being recorded. "US laws on the use of TV white space prohibit this practice, but we successfully did it here and this shows how efficient the technology is."
Benefits for teachers
The participating schools, previously equipped with slow or unreliable internet connections, experienced high-speed broadband access for the first time.
Teachers were able to use videos in lesson plans, update their websites more frequently, and e-mail parents. Students could research rich-media educational materials.
The next step would be for telecommunications regulator the Independent Communications Authority of SA to develop regulations governing the future use of TV white space.
"This trial and some others around the country have conclusively shown that all the scientific and technical knowledge is there and is sufficient to develop sound regulations," Hart said.
Microsoft is conducting a trial in Polokwane, and in Kenya and Tanzania.
Source: Business Day, via I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
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