TTP, a technology and product development company, has told the Cambridge TV White Spaces Consortium (Arqiva, BBC, BSkyB, BT, Microsoft, Neul, Nokia, Samsung and Virgin Media) that 600,000 UK homes and businesses in isolated rural areas could be given broadband internet access via "cheap" and unlicensed White Space based wireless technology.

White Space technology uses the spare radio spectrum that exists between Ultra High Frequency (UHF) digital terrestrial TV (470MHz to 790MHz) bands/channels to deliver internet access over a Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN); otherwise known as the IEEE 802.22 standard.

Download speeds of up to 22Mbps per channel could be possible by using White Space technology (note: this would be shared with other users) and TTP claims that some UK trials have already pushed single-channel speeds of more than 12Mbps to homes over 6km away from the transmitter (TTP claims the practical range goes up to 10km). By contrast anything over 6.5km on a traditional 'up to' 8Mbps rural ADSL line is either slow or unusable.


The UK communications regulator, Ofcom, officially put its weight behind the effort in September 2011 (here). It's widely expected that the first services could be launched in the UK during 2013, although before that the regulator will need to consult on a Draft Statutory Instrument for making white space devices licence exempt.