Microsoft says it will use the bandwidth from unused television channels, called white spaces, to deliver high-speed broadband to many of the 24 million rural Americans who lack fast internet access. The initial service will serve 12 states: Washington, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Virginia, New York and Maine, “to connect 2 million rural Americans in the next five years who have limited or no access to high-speed internet,” Cecelia Kang reports for The New York Times.
Fast, reliable, affordable internet service has been a longtime problem in rural America. Internet service providers often can’t justify the cost of building infrastructure in sparsely populated areas. Microsoft and other companies have been testing white spaces as an alternative since 2008. Microsoft President Brad Smith told Kang that white spaces were “the best solution for reaching over 80 percent of people in rural America who lack broadband today.” For Microsoft’s blog post, click here; for its white paper, here.
White spaces technology is sometimes called “super wi-fi” because it “behaves like regular wi-fi but uses low-powered TV channels to cover far greater distances than wireless hot spots, “up to 10 miles in rural areas,” Jay Greene reports for The Wall Street Journal. “It is also more powerful than cellular service because the frequencies can penetrate concrete walls and other obstacles,” Kang reports. Microsoft stands to profit from the service because Americans who have internet access are better positioned to buy Microsoft apps and products.
