Globe completes TV white space trial for broadband

MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom Inc. has successfully completed a TV white space trial for broadband use, a move that is seen to help the telco provide internet connectivity even in hard to reach rural areas.

In a statement yesterday, Globe said it is the first telco in the Philippines to adopt the TV white space frequency for broadband use.

“The TV white space provides us with another means to bridge the Digital Divide in remote rural  areas where traditional means of backhaul such as fiber or multi-hop microwave terrestrial backhaul does not make it economically viable for telecommunication providers to deploy broadband facilities,” Emmanuel Estrada, Globe senior vice president for network technologies strategy, said.

TV white space refers to the unused TV channels between the active ones in the VHF (very high frequency) and UHF (ultra high frequency) spectrum.

While these channels were typically referred to as buffers placed between active TV channels to protect broadcasting interference, it has been found such can be used to provide broadband internet access while operating harmoniously with surrounding TV channels.

Utilizing TV white space for internet service is a relatively new technology as TV broadcast began transitioning from analog to digital.

Estrada said the TV white space trials were conducted to allow the Ayala-led telco to maximize available spectrum amid rapid growth in data consumption.

The TV white space trials were conducted in partnership with the Information and Communications Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology, as well as with Canadian supplier of mobile and broadband wireless solutions NuRAN Wireless Inc., over the last eight months in several areas in the country including Cebu and Bohol.

Once the TV white space technology is put in place, it is seen to serve as an alternative wireless network that will provide data connectivity in far-flung areas in Visayas and Mindanao.

Estrada said increasing demand for wireless data traffic and growing pressure to network capacity has spurred an interest to utilize these unallocated portions of the radio spectrum.

He said the long range reach of the TV white space technology also means utilization of such frequency for broadband would require less number of cell sites and would be cost-efficient for the telco.

Amid growing demand for internet services, Globe is working to boost its capacity and network coverage.

For this year, Globe has earmarked $750 million worth of capital expenditures.

Globe is also investing $2 billion over a five-year period to deploy fiber optic cables and achieve its goal of providing ultra-fast internet service to two million homes nationwide.