TV White Spaces

Hello Alex. Thanks for the feedback. In responding to your questions I have attached a picture of a typical rural broadband network infrastructure that we need to invest on before we can provide broadband internet services in rural areas. However, this is a very affordable telecommunications infrastructure, easy to deploy and maintain as well. In terms of how does it work; we install a radio with an antenna at your house / business - run a cable to your router, a database reports a list of vacant channels that won't cause interference to link with, then the base station sends a signal back to your house / business' antenna confirming the connection. Your router will distribute internet through wi-fi inside your house. It is different because an antenna at your house does not need line of sight to the base station, cost benefits and it uses the same frequencies that broadcasters use to get programming to our TV/FM Radio. TVWS signal is very strong in rural areas this is a better affordable option to address the digital divide.

Hello Sunday. Thanks for your questions. Indeed those unused channels are under local regulator's custodianship now for the fact that such channels are vacant that means spectrum is wasted. Most governments in Africa have realized that problem and they've started to give us permission to use those channels for this purpose and in South Africa our local regular has issued guidelines seeking to migrate all other used channels meaning issues of possible interference within those low bands will be minimal. In rural areas we will be mess networks to enable the community to get internet access through wi-fi using their mobile phones, laptop or any devices with wi-fi capabilities.

Much appreciated the journey is still very long ahead, you might one of our customers :)

Thanks for such encouraging comments. The majority of the network will be deployed using a mesh topology multiple connections mean (in theory) that no node should be isolated. The multiple connections mean each node can transmit to and receive from more than one node at the same time. The best advantage is even more new nodes can be added without interruption or interfering with other nodes to avoid slowing it down when more devices are added.

We conducted a joint pilot project in South Africa with several stakeholders. Approved TVWS EOMs have done and completed further tests in SA, Nigeria, Namibia, Kenya & soon in Tanzania we are monitoring EOMs developments in these countries since we are aiming to participate in these markets as well.

Thank you for the support Jude. Where are you from? We are certainly looking for other market in within the Sub-Saharan region in Africa.

I know Mawingu very well. I met then in Kenya a couple years ago but Kenyan regulators have not yet commenced with commercial TVWS

Television White Spaces (TVWS) is the term used to describe portions of unused radio spectrum; the gaps left between bands allocated for TV broadcasting in the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) range (470 MHz to 694 MHz), excluding the Radio Astronomy sub-band 606 MHz – 614 MHz. The Independent Communications Regulatory Authority of South Africa (ICASA), as the national regulator mandated to manage spectrum resources, enforce compliance to regulations and monitor quality of service of telecommunication networks, published “Regulations on the use of Television White Spaces” in 2018. Our operations are made possible by these regulations. The ICASA TVWS Regulation is a three-tiered ecosystem that is composed of two types of
geo-location spectrum databases (GLSDs) namely; the Reference Geolocation Spectrum Database (R-GLSD) and the Secondary Geo-location Spectrum Database (S-GLSD) positioned in the first and second tiers respectively, and TVWS networks positioned in the third tier. Reference Geo-location Spectrum Database (R-GLSD) is a GLSD operated by ICASA to perform baseline calculations for the countrywide TVWS availability maps for setting regulatory limits. R-GLSD is primarily used by ICASA to monitor activities of S-GLSD providers (at the moment on CSIR is assisting with S-GLSD for free of charge) and enforce compliance to the Regulations. CSIR's S-GLSD provides available TVWS channels to radio equipment without causing harmful interference to the incumbent users of the band, in line with Regulation 5 of the ICASA TVWS Regulations. CSIR has developed the S-GLSD platform in compliance with the ICASA TVWS Regulations. We have a solid TVWS Regulatory Framework in South Africa for TVWS deployment.

Thank you for such a comprehesive feedback I am working on adjusting the idea based on your input. Much appreciated

Hello James. Great idea I've reviewed your idea all the best.

The South African regulatory environment on TV White Space is far ahead compare with Kenyan environment. I have been to Kenya twice as Kenya was my preferred country to launch TVWS. However, South African regulator is +/- 6 month from full commercially launch. A couple of successful trials started back in 2013 and in April this year we started a TVWS deployment also driven by Covid 19 TVWS emergency spectrum allocation. Last month one OEM received a full type approval. This was achieved by this OEM firstly being a CE certified for hardware and subsequently passing the rigorous testing with the CSIR Secondary Geo Location Spectrum Database (SGLSD). The SGLSD is used for free under Covid 19 emergency spectrum so there's a fully functioning local developed SGLSD. Having this first full Type Approval certification of TVWS devices to be issued by local regulator in compliance with the South African TVWS Regulations of 2018 is amazing. We are using TVWS as a middle mile for hotspots in the rural areas but rural based businesses like farms and public sector facilities like schools and health centres the TVWS is used as the last mile. At the moment of course CPE prices are still high but as supply increases when more OEMs pass compliance requirements we expect prices to drop.