It has been estimated that the unlicensed white spaces that many broadband technology companies and the software giant, Microsoft are desperate to get their hands on could have a value of over $100 billion over the next 15 years according to a recent study commissioned by the Microsoft Corporation.
It has been suggested that white spaces could stand to generate from $3.9 billion to $7.3 billion every year by adding to the current unlicensed wireless broadband networks like Wi-Fi hotspots according to the study, which was carried out by Richard Thanki from Perspective Associates.
The opening of huge amounts of white space spectrum by the US Federal Communications Commission for use by unlicensed devices following the freeing of this spectrum after the transition to digital TV were lobbied for quite aggressively by a number of companies including Google Inc., Dell Inc. and Microsoft.
Although the later part of last year saw the FCC ultimately approving the use of this white space spectrum the lobbying of these companies were met with high levels of resistance from media, audio technology and telecommunications industry.
The standards for the use of the spectrum and a way to make use of this white space without causing licensed signal interference are currently being discussed by interested companies and the regulator.
Although it has been difficult to exactly measure their benefits it has been argued that wireless communications could be improved and internet use could be boosted by the use of this white space according to many companies including Microsoft.
A far broader range could be offered by the white space spectrum than with a standard Wi-Fi connection, with a single Wi-Fi access point that uses white space able to “fully cover a large building and the neighbouring grounds and areas,” wrote Thanki in his study.
Thanki also wrote that the cost of providing broadband internet access to remote and rural locations could be significantly reduced by using white space spectrum.
Source – Online