Colombia publishes white space regulation

Colombia's national spectrum agency ANE has published regulations for the use of TV White Space (TVWS) to use this unassigned spectrum for broadband.

In television networks, white space refers to the unused wireless spectrum gaps between channels for buffering purposes. This space is similar to what is used for 4G and can thus be used to deliver widespread broadband.

The ANE published a public consultation document on TVWS in May this year. The idea of regulating TVWS is to ensure there is no interference between channels.

The bands that have been identified for use are: 66GHz, 71GHz, 74GHz and 76GHz.

The drive behind sharing the use of TVWS is due to the fact that spectrum is a limited and expensive resource. According to the ANE, providers of satellite, mobile and fixed services could all share use of the spectrum.

Last May, the Colombian government teamed up with Microsoft to examine deploying broadband in remote parts of the country using TVWS.

TVWS has taken on greater relevance in recent years and been tested in the UHF band. In the EU's Licensed Shared Access policy it was implemented for the 2.3-2.4GHz band; in the UK shared spectrum has been authorized by Ofcom in the 450-453/464-467.3MHz bands; and in the US the FCC has greenlighted the use of the 3.5GHz band.