Tag Archives: WhiteSpace

Microsoft will deliver low-cost broadband to 500,000 rural Indian villages

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A major partnership with Google putting free Wi-Fi in 400 train stations wasn't the only major network news coming from India today. The Indian government also announced on Monday that it will pair with Microsoft to bring low-cost broadband connect...

UK regulator names Microsoft, Google and others for white space wireless trials

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UK regulator names Microsoft, Google and others for white space wireless trials

Though rural dwellers are often broadband-poor, there seems to be plenty of companies lining up to serve them in the UK. Regulator Ofcom just announced participants for its "white space" or unused spectrum trials, including Microsoft, Google, Click4Internet and British Telecom. Redmond's going to test WiFi-like services to underserved Glasgow, while Click4internet will assess rural broadband in remote or tricky locations. Google has signed on as a potential database provider, and other use cases like traffic management will be tested by BT and others. Ofcom wants to launch such services by next year and released a blueprint detailing how existing mobile and digital terrestrial TV spectrums could be divvied up. To see all the companies and what each plans to do, check the source.

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Source: Ofcom

FCC approves Google’s white space wireless database

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FCC approves Google's white space wireless database

Google may have been on pins and needles while the FCC scrutinized its white space wireless database over the spring, but it can relax this summer -- the FCC has given the database the all-clear. The approval lets Google serve as one of ten go-to sources for white space devices needing safe frequencies in the US. It also lets those with interference-prone devices, such as wireless microphone users, register the airwaves they consider off-limits to white space technology. The clearance won't have much immediate effect when very few Americans are using the spectrum, but it's a step forward for rural broadband rollouts and other situations where long-range, unlicensed wireless comes in handy.

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Via: SlashGear

Source: FCC, Google

Google reportedly pursuing ‘multipronged effort’ to build wireless networks in emerging markets

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Google reportedly pursuing 'multipronged effort' to build wireless networks in emerging markets

Google has been busy pushing ahead with plans to be a wired internet provider in the US with Google Fiber, and it looks like it's intent on being a major player in the wireless network business elsewhere in the world as well. According to a report out today from The Wall Street Journal, Google is currently in the midst of a "mutipronged effort" that would "fund, build and help run wireless networks in emerging markets such as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia."

That effort would reportedly involve partnerships with local companies, and an emphasis on delivering wireless access to residents outside major cities, where wired internet remains unavailable -- Google, and Eric Schmidt in particular, have repeatedly talked about reaching the next five billion people. According to the WSJ, Google would provide its own "recently developed wireless technologies" for at least some of the networks, some of which are said to involve TV whitespace technology. For its part, Google is remaining mum on the matter, and it's not clear when we can expect the networks to actually roll out.

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Microsoft bringing white space internet, Windows 8 hardware to Tanzania

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Microsoft bringing white space internet, Windows 8 hardware to Tanzania

It's not just Bill Gates who has a benevolent eye turned towards Africa, as Microsoft has launched the second stage of its 4Afrika initiative in Tanzania. Redmond has teamed up with local provider UhuruOne to roll out white space broadband to the University of Dar es Salaam and is working with banks to help students get loans to buy Windows 8 hardware. Microsoft will also employ some students as on-campus support staff, offering training and qualifications to help them in the future. While the press release doesn't mention the discounted Huawei W1 that Microsoft is offering in Kenya, we can only assume Tanzanians will get the same offer -- fair's fair, after all.

[Original image credit: Alexander Landfair / Wikimedia Commons]

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UK regulator wants white space wireless service in 2014, starts trials this fall

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TV static

While there have been white space test runs in the UK, these were private trials that weren't going to get the ball rolling without government help. Thankfully, local regulator Ofcom is of a like mind. It now plans a trial for data on the in-between frequencies this fall, with full-fledged service going live as soon as 2014. The agency expects to settle on the final locations for the pilot after it chooses partners. No, Ofcom can't guarantee that all the stars will align for rural broadband or other long-range wireless projects -- but its involvement at least means those stars are within reach.

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Via: GigaOM

Source: Ofcom

Google starts a TV white space trial in South Africa to wirelessly link schools

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Google starts a TV white space trial in South Africa to wirelessly link schools

Google has been a strong advocate of white space wireless as democratizing broadband access: its long-range nature can bring people online when the local internet framework isn't always reliable, if it exists at all. The company is about to illustrate that potential through a new trial in South Africa. A trio of base stations at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town will supply ten nearby primary and secondary schools with internet access to prove that white space access can work without affecting TV signals. To make sure it won't, Google is picking the safest frequencies from a database and is measuring the results for the sake of both nervous broadcasters and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. If all goes well, it (and similar efforts from Microsoft) should make a case for full approval of white space use across the country and deliver internet access to remote areas that risk being left by the technological wayside.

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Source: Google Africa Blog

Microsoft launches 4Afrika initiative with Huawei W1 variant, TV white space broadband project

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Microsoft launches 4Afrika initiative with Huawei W1 variant, lowcost wireless broadband

Following the lead of co-founder Bill Gates Microsoft is taking more interest in Africa, announcing its 4Afrika Initiative with a stated aim of improving the continent's global competitiveness. There are several plans under way as a part of the project, with one of the first being a new Windows Phone 8 device from Microsoft and Huawei. Pictured above, the Huawei 4Afrika phone is a specially tailored version of the existing Ascend W1 meant as an affordable option (no price announced yet) for first time smartphone buyers that also comes preloaded with apps created by African developers for African consumers, and a subsection of the existing Windows Phone Store that will continue to focus on "locally-relevant" apps and content. It will be available in blue, red, black and white when it launches later this month in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Another part of the push is a pilot project Microsoft is working on with the Kenyan government and Indigo Telecom which combines solar powered base stations using TV white space technology to offer affordable wireless internet access. Meant to bring broadband to places that currently lack even electricity, the deployment is called Mawingu, connecting a healthcare clinic and several schools in its initial test. After several years of pushing the tech, which takes advantage of unused TV broadcast spectrum, Microsoft hopes to convince other nations to make the legal/regulatory changes to start using it as well. There's a press release after the break with more details, as well as a video and more information available beyond the source links.

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Source: 4Afrika, Windows Phone Blog

‘First’ prototype hardware built for broadband over IEEE’s white space standard

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'First' prototype hardware developed for broadband over dead analog TV spectrum

If you hadn't realized already, spectrum is quite the hot commodity, and any unused slice is a potential data highway just begging to be cruised. One mostly vacant stretch is the eerie white space -- megahertz left empty when TV broadcasts move from analog to digital frequencies. The IEEE published its 802.22 standard for white space broadband 18 months ago, and now a group comprising the NICT, ISB Corp and Hitachi Kokusai Electric (not to be confused with the other Hitachi) have built the "first" prototype hardware to make use of it. White space spectrum in the 470 to 710MHz range is expected to provide wireless internet to "underserved areas" and act as an emergency backup for downed systems, when infrastructure is finally up and running. Given we're only at the prototype stage following the inception of the 802.22 standard in 2011, out-of-towners will probably be waiting a while longer before having the option to stream entertainment over those dead TV airwaves. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

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World's First TV White Space Prototype Based on IEEE 802.22 for Wireless Regional Area Network

TOKYO, Jan. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. and ISB Corporation have developed the world's first prototypes of base station (BS) and consumer premise equipment (CPE) based on the IEEE 802.22 standard operating in TV White Spaces (TVWS) (470 MHz - 710 MHz). The developed prototypes will provide broadband wireless access to underserved and unserved regional areas around the world as well as bringing reliable backup broadband communications in emergency, which will follow the worldwide trend of promoting the TVWS for wireless communication systems.

Background
From replacing the current analog television (TV) technology with digital television technology, some of the spectrum previously used by analog television become vacant referred to as TV White Space (TVWS). The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) in the UK, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan have initiated opening up the TVWS to wireless communication systems for efficient reuse of the unused TV spectrum, which is based on non-interfering with broadcast incumbents' operation. The IEEE 802.22 Working Group has published the IEEE 802.22-2011 standard for TVWS broadband wireless access to regional areas where it is most needed and where the TV spectrum is least used. In particular, the IEEE 802.22 systems offer around 10 times the coverage of Wi-Fi as well as enable to provide reliable backup broadband communications in emergency. However, there is no TVWS systems based on the IEEE 802.22-2011 satisfying the FCC spectrum requirements.

Achievements
The NICT and Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. have developed the world's first prototype devices of base station (BS) and consumer premise equipment (CPE) verifying the physical layer (PHY) and the medium access control (MAC) layer design based on the IEEE 802.22 standard in the TVWS (470 MHz - 710 MHz). The PHY part developed by Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. (Note 1) allows the devices to use vacant TV bands over the frequency range from 470-710MHz, the MAC layer part developed by NICT provides a medium access method based on point-to-multipoint access with supporting the different QoS levels, and supports cognitive capabilities of interference estimation, geo-location and white space data base (WSDB) access over the IP. The WSDB (Note 2) (http://whitespacetech.isbcorp.com/) provided by ISB Corporation avoids interference to incumbents of TV broadcasters from automatically selecting the non-interfering TV band.

Future prospects
The NICT, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. and ISB Corporation in the future will develop the enhanced technologies based on the IEEE 802.22 standard and also work closely with WhiteSpace Alliance (WSA) (Note 3) (www.whitespacealliance.org) to provide products for worldwide markets. The NICT, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. and ISB Corporation will demonstrate the developed prototype devices at the Super WiFi Summit (Note 4) (www.superwifisummit.com) in Miami, Florida, from January 30 to February 1, 2013.

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