White Spaces Worth $100 Billion, Microsoft-Backed Study Says

The so-called “white spaces” in the TV spectrum left open by the move towards digital broadcasting are very attractive to a number of big tech companies and for good reason. The unlicensed space could lower the entry for wireless Internet solutions, which would cover a much broader area than the current Wi-Fi technology can. Obviously, there is a lot of potential there but a new study commissioned by Microsoft puts an actual figure on that potential, claiming that white spaces could be worth as much as $100 billion over the next 15 years.

The study [PDF] by Richard Thanki of Perspective Associates found that using the currently unlicensed spectrum to provide wireless Internet could generate anywhere from $3.9 billion to $7.3 billion in value every year over the next 15 years. The value is derived from the increased use of devices capable of connecting to the Internet but also from other economic factors. The study also underlines some of the advantages of using this spectrum over other wireless technologies currently available.

None of them should be new to anyone following the developments in the area but, by using the lower end spectrum, a wireless hotspot could cover a much larger area than current WiFi hotspots do, which could benefit heavily populated areas but also lower the cost of providing broadband Internet to rural communities where regular wired or wireless technologies are too expensive to be viable.

Microsoft, Google and other big tech companies pushed hard to open the white spaces spectrum in order to lower the entry bar for a wireless broadband provider. This would potentially expose their services and products to new users but also ensure that no one company would control the distribution channel. Obviously, most telcos and traditional companies with interest in the area were less enthusiastic about the move but eventually the FCC relented and allowed unlicensed devices to make use of the free spectrum.