South African University (Universiteit Stellenbosch) Hosts TV White Spaces Pilot

A South African university will play host to a new six-month trial of wireless broadband using unallocated broadcast TV spectrum. Universiteit Stellenbosch will host the three broadcast stations involved in the trial from its Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at U Stellenbosch's Cape Town campus. For the pilot program, which launched March 25, the stations will provide wireless broadband to 10 schools. The unused portions of the TV spectrum between channels are referred to as "white space." Historically they've been untapped, but there's a growing number of applications that have the potential to benefit from the use of these white spaces, and momentum has been growing globally. In the United States in 2010, the FCC adopted rules allowing for limited unlicensed use of white spaces and is currently looking into additional potential uses. Google recently launched a 45-day trial of its white spaces database, part of the process Google is undertaking to become a certified database administrator for spectrum sharing. Google itself is involved in the South African pilot program, testing its database to ensure it's accurate enough to prevent interference for broadcasters. Google was also involved in a pilot test in the United States back in 2010 in Ohio that involved a single hospital. According to the FCC: "This block of spectrum is ripe for innovation and experimental use, holding rich potential for expanding broadband capacity and improving access for many users, and for developing technologies that can expand this type of spectrum access to other frequencies and services in order to greatly increase our ability to utilize spectrum. The FCC is moving forward with plans and is actively working to unlock this spectrum in order to maximize white spaces' value for consumers and businesses." It also has the potential to deliver broadband services to areas with poor telecommunications infrastructure, including rural areas in the United States and in other tech-strapped regions of the world, according to Google.