The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) in conjunction with the physics department at Chancellor College this week showcased highlights of the Malawi White Spaces Project in Lilongwe.
The project seeks to extend broadband connectivity to rural Malawi at affordable cost using the identified gaps (white spaces) in the television UHF band. The project’s key technology is spectral sensing and database look-up capabilities.
In their joint presentation at the launch of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Week titled ‘TV White Spaces Network Deployment’, Macra deputy director (spectrum management) Jonathan Pinifolo and Dr Chomora Mikeka of Chancellor College noted that Internet connectivity is driving demand for spectrum.
They observed that there is a strong industry interest to deploy new services in television white spaces.
The presentation also highlighted that the project presents new business opportunities.
Further highlighted the presentation: “It is common knowledge that demand for wireless communications is exploding, placing tremendous strain on the capacity for wireless communication networks. From this perspective, white spaces is one of the possible solutions to this ever-worsening problems which Malawi is seriously considering to employ.”
