South Africa is just awaiting the regulatory go-ahead to make use of TV white space, as the country already has the skills, entrepreneurs, standards, technology and demand for the spectrum.
So says Henk Kleynhans, chairman of the Wireless Access Providers' Association (WAPA), a collective voice for more than 120 wireless Internet service providers across SA. According to Kleynhans, unused TV white space could be the way to get high-speed wireless Internet to millions in Africa.
TV white spaces are vacant frequencies between occupied (licensed) broadcast or broadcast auxiliary services.
“The problem of low broadband penetration is much more urgent in Africa than it is in the US or the UK, and it is, therefore, imperative that we lead the way on TV white space usage and legislation,” he says.
“Our regulators are, surprisingly, more sophisticated than they get credit for. ICASA [the Independent Communications Authority of SA] is already working with universities and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on making TV white space spectrum available for broadband use.”
Kleynhans adds there is already a real opportunity to learn from the mistakes the US' Federal Communications Commission and Ofcom in the UK have made. “It appears spectrum databases were created for political, rather than technical, reasons in these countries. We could look at using databases, but rather as a complement to cognitive radios, instead of forming any type of barrier to rolling out super WiFi.”
Steve Song, a social entrepreneur and founder of Village Telco, says: “Spectrum is a critical resource to any country, and it should be managed in the national strategic interest, and not just in the interests of the incumbent operators.
“Affordability is the key to enabling the benefits if ICTs in Africa, and competition is the key to making access more affordable. Right now, access to spectrum is a key bottleneck to introducing more competition,” explains Song.
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) believes the best way of making sure public interest drives policy and regulation is to get people from business and civil society and regulators and policy-makers around the same table.
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