Unused TV signals to provide broadband to rural areas

Dead TV signals are being used to provide broadband to remote locations in the UK. The service - the first of its kind in Europe - will use part of the radio spectrum, called ‘white space’, freed up by the switchover from analogue TV signals to digital.

Residents on the Isle of Arran in Scotland (pictured) will be the first to benefit. Domain-name company Nominet has joined with telecoms firm Broadway Partners to provide the service, which will offer speeds of between 25 to 35Mbps. The service will also be rolled out to remote communities (yet to be confirmed) in Wales.

It’s hoped that better broadband will boost the businesses on Arran that depend on tourism. Peak seasons see the island’s population increase from 5,000 to 25,000.

The use of white space follows a series of successful trials. In 2014, London Zoo teamed up with Google to stream live footage of meerkats on Youtube.

That same year Oxford Flood Network used white space to provide early flood warnings to residents. It was also tested on ferries travelling in the Orkney Islands and Pentland Firth. Microsoft also ran trials on boats in the Solent.

Ofcom, which approved the use of white space in 2015, said that the technology appeals to companies because it can travel longer distances and more easily through walls than Bluetooth and Wi-fi.

That view is echoed by Michael Armitage, founding director of Broadway Partners, who said: “TV white space has proved its mettle, cutting through hard-to-reach rural forested areas on Arran which, in fixed wireless terms, is pretty much unheard of”.

Not all companies agree, though. After testing the technology on the Isle of Bute and in Suffolk, BT has dismissed white space as a solution to the problems of rural broadband. It favours satellite and Wi-fi.