Microsoft is under attack in India for its plans to harness ‘white spaces’ for last mile connectivity

Microsoft’s plans of enabling last mile connectivity to 5 lakh villages might seem like a noble cause but the way is not much appreciated in India. After India's top mobile carriers, the Broadband India Forum (BIF) has countered its plan to use the unused television broadcast frequencies or 'white spaces' for delivering low-cost rural broadband connectivity

The BIF has urged telecom secretary Rakesh Garg to ensure such broadcast frequencies in TV UHF band, which, typically, lie in the 470-698 MHz range, be only allocated through an open auction and not given away free. BIF represents companies such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone, Qualcomm, Ericsson,Intel, Marvell, UTStarcom and Bharat Sanchar Nigam.

"Since TV UHF spectrum has excellent propagation characteristics, making it ideal for both in-building data services and rural coverage, it must be auctioned, given the limited amount of spectrum available for mobile services in the conventional 800, 900, 1800, 2100 MHz bands," said BIF in a letter to Garg, a copy of which was seen by ET.

BIF president TV Ramachandran told ET that "technology companies like Microsoft should also be encouraged to access TV UHF band airwaves only by participating in a suitable auction process, and with level-playing field conditions assured for all players". Without directly naming Microsoft's TV white space technology, Ramachandran also dismissed the entire theory of deploying 'white spaces' or the tiny gaps between TV broadcast channels, for delivering low-cost last mile connectivity across rural India.

Microsoft, however, maintains that TV white space is one of the most innovative technologies that the company is fostering.

"In India, we have completed a successful pilot in Srikakulam (in Andhra Pradesh), and the reasons behind undertaking the pilot are to take the technology risk out, to show that this technology works and (can) even help create an economic model that allows affordable WiFi to be delivered successfully," a Microsoft spokeswoman said in written response to ET's queries.
(Image credits: Indiatimes)