There are some white spaces that linger between television broadcasts that have a lot of potential, yet they remained unused. However, Microsoft plans to change that and employ these valuable resources to the benefit of around two million rural Americans. In five years, these residents will have a better local access to broadband.
The White Spaces Technology Would Provide Affordable and Better Internet Services to Rural Americans
According to a recent report, Microsoft will soon announce its latest plans regarding national connectivity. The tech giant wants to include 12 states in this program. The president of the company, Brad Smith, is confident that white spaces are the best solution to connect 80% of people from rural regions to broadband.
The company announced last month the Federal Communications Commission that it intends to employ the white spaces to the greater good. Microsoft is a firm believer that the Internet nowadays is a key element in achieving social success. Unfortunately, a great deal of rural Americans lack such a presence in the online world, which can prove to be detrimental to their future.
In its letter, Microsoft described the white spaces technology as an affordable resource that offers a larger wireless signal than any other bands. Therefore, providers will have the necessary means to extend their services to remote locations. For the moment, it is currently impractical to deploy their services there from a financial point of view.
Microsoft Needs FCC’s Support for this Five-Year Program
However, Microsoft needs FCC’s support to pull this through. The agency has the authority to allow the company to repurpose at least three white spaces channels and one available UHF channel for each market. This implementation will slash prices to an affordable level for almost the entire nation.
Microsoft has already tested this system for several years now in Africa. The program was dubbed 4Afrika and had an Indian version in the state of Andhra Pradesh. However, the government in India didn’t allow Microsoft access to this spectrum of white spaces.
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