TVWS Tech Brings 30Mb Broadband to 400 Monmouthshire Homes UPDATE

Some 400 homes residing within 6 kilometres of Llantilio Crossenny in Monmouthshire (Wales, UK) will be the next to benefit from fixed wireless superfast broadband via Broadway Partners, which will use the new long range TV White Space (TVWS) technology to deliver their internet connectivity.

As a quick recap, TVWS technology is designed to harness the gaps that exist between radio spectrum in the Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) bands, which operate between about 470-790MHz (note: this will change a bit once the 700MHz band is freed up for use by future 5G mobile services).

Normally those spectrum gaps would be intended to help minimise the risk of interference between channels but TVWS makes use of a new dynamic spectrum management system (database), which means that the gaps can also now be used to deliver data (i.e. this has to account for any changes in the TV channel / spectrum assignments).

So far the company has already connected around 280 rural households and businesses to broadband services using TVWS on the Isle of Arran and in the Loch Ness and Loch Leven areas of Scotland (here). Last year they also built a very small pilot network around the parish of Llanarth in Monmouthshire (here) and it now looks like this work is about to get a big coverage extension.

Broadway Partners is delivering the project after being awarded a contract by Monmouthshire County Council, which is being supported by public funding from the Rural Community Development Fund. The RCDF is part of the Welsh Government Rural Communities’ Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. Sadly they don’t say how much invested has been committed.

Michael Armitage, Chairman and CEO of Broadway Partners, said:

“The technology we have developed is now proven through successful projects in Scotland and it could be applied to a huge number of remote Welsh communities where people are denied access to fast broadband.

We are delighted to be rolling it out in Monmouthshire where some 400 households will have the option for the first time to be able to enjoy the same kind of access that most of us take for granted.

Our technology could be transformational for tens of thousands of remote households and businesses in rural Wales.

We are pleased to have been awarded this contract from Monmouthshire County Council to deliver superfast broadband to their residents. Our existing customers tell us that our broadband has transformed their lives and their businesses, allowing them to enjoy services such as iPlayer, Netflix and Skype, to post videos to YouTube, to keep up with social media, to do homework, to keep in constant contact with customers and suppliers – in short, to do all those things that most people take for granted.”

Apparently the new TVWS network will get its capacity from Openreach’s (BT) fibre optic network, which is then distributed out using a mix of TVWS and 5GHz radio technology. Residential packages offer average download speeds of 30Mbps (5Mbps upload) and unlimited usage from £32.50 a month on a 24 month contract to £35 on a 12 month contract.

The cost of installation is subject to survey, although generally you can either pay £240 (one-off) upfront or pay £120 upfront and then pay off the rest at £12 per month for 10 months. However many of the premises covered will be in broadband slow spots, which means that they should be able to get this for free by harnessing the Welsh Government’s Access Broadband Cymru subsidy scheme.

It’s worth noting that the average speed of this new network may be 30Mbps, although the underlying technology is able to aggregate three radio channels (24MHz of spectrum) in order to potentially reach a peak of 50Mbps. We’ve also heard talk of this being pushed up to 100Mbps (“ultrafast broadband” territory) in the future but we’ve yet to see that tested in the UK.

The central ISP for all this is now Broadway Broadband.

UPDATE 12:10pm

As far as the Rural Development Programme (RDP) grant is concerned, we understand that the total project value is £90,000, with the RDP granting £72,000 and Broadway matching this grant with £18,000 (20%). Broadway has also contributed an additional £10,000 to the project outside of the grant from the RDP.