Communications regulator Icasa has published a discussion document on “dynamic and opportunistic spectrum management”, a precursor to crafting regulations that will govern the use of television white-spaces spectrum in South Africa.

TV white spaces are the gaps in spectrum between broadcast television channels. Advocates of the technology say it could help bridge the digital divide in emerging markets like South Africa by allowing companies and other organisations to offer wireless broadband access to consumers at a tiny fraction of the cost of using traditional mobile networks.

The technology has garnered the attention of technology giants Microsoft and Google, which have both run successful trials to test the use of white-spaces spectrum in South Africa and elsewhere on the African continent.

However, before the technology can be deployed commercially, Icasa needs to create the regulatory environment that will govern its use. The regulator will also need to satisfy itself that it will not interfere with TV broadcasts.

The discussion document is aimed at explaining the concept and putting it into the public domain, Icasa said on Friday. “It’s done in an endeavour to enable and initiate the process of developing a regulatory framework for dynamic spectrum access.

“The discussion document proposes a regulatory framework for dynamic spectrum assignment in order to enable the emergence of new technologies and techniques that promote more intensive and efficient use of radio frequency spectrum. The proposal broadly reflects recommendations made in the digital readiness pillar of the national broadband policy, South Africa Connect,” Icasa said.

In the document, Icasa has proposed the adoption of dynamic spectrum assignment on a geolocation basis as one of the ways of achieving the priorities of the broadband policy.

“In particular,” Icasa said, “it proposes regulations that would enable broadband services on a secondary-user assignment basis in the 470-694MHz band currently utilised exclusively for the terrestrial broadcasting service…”

To meet growing demand for wireless broadband, new wireless network architectures and new approaches to spectrum management are needed, the regulator said.

“While the discussion document introduces a broader view of the dynamic spectrum access concept, it focuses on technical considerations for first implementation of the concept of white-space use in the bands allocated for TV broadcasting.”

Icasa explained that dynamic spectrum access is an umbrella term used to describe a set of technologies and techniques that enable radio communications devices to transmit opportunistically on available radio spectrum.

“These technologies and techniques will greatly relieve the problem of the shortage of spectrum for broadband in the bands below 1GHz [and] could greatly contribute to consumers and their devices having wireless bandwidth when and where they need it,” it said. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media