India is joining some of the world’s largest nations in testing the white space technology for affordable internet access. White space deploys idle spectrum between television channels and is a cheaper alternative to fibre and wireless technology. Education and Research in Computer Networking (ERNET), the research and development arm of the information technology ministry, has received approval in principle to conduct two pilots of the white space technology with Microsoft and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. ALSO READ: Govt promises 'non-discriminatory' access to internet Technology companies like Microsoft and Google are aggressively pushing the white space technology. During his recent trip to India, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella pitched it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Neena Pahuja, director-general of ERNET, said the agency wrote to the department of telecommunications on the use of white space one-and-a-half years ago. The technology gained traction after Microsoft adopted it.
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ERNET chose Srikakulam to see how the technology will work near the sea. The pilot will be conducted over six months in schools within a 10 km radius. The findings will be submitted to the government, which will decide how to deploy the technology. Large-scale use of white space may require regulatory changes because it uses radio frequencies. Since the frequencies are going waste, the government can give them away free.
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