Microsoft unveils TV white-spaces trial in South Africa

TechCentral.co.za reports that Microsoft on Wednesday launched a television white-spaces spectrum pilot in Limpopo, South Africa, using unused portions of radio frequency spectrum reserved for broadcasting to deliver Internet access. It hopes the project will encourage further deployments throughout Africa.

The pilot follows the launch of similar pilots in Ghana, Tanzania and Kenya. It’s being launched almost a year after a group of companies, led by Google, conducted a similar trial in the Western Cape, which provided Internet access to 10 schools in the province.

The focus of Microsoft’s Limpopo pilot is on meeting government’s goal of providing low-cost broadband access for a majority of South Africans by 2020, says the company’s local MD, Mteto Nyati.

Read more at http://www.techcentral.co.za/microsoft-unveils-tv-white-spaces-trial/48948/