Options for affordable rural broadband connectivity: a focus on TVWhite Space technology

There appears to be a coordinated effort the world over to achieve digital switch over (DSO) from analogue based to digital technology. Ghana signed the Geneva agreement which set 17th June 2015 as the deadline for the DSO. This switch over will create new spectrum opportunities for many wireless technologies due to the abundance of radio spectrum the switch over provides. This paper focuses on the opportunity for using White Spaces (TV frequencies allocated to a broadcasting service but not used locally) for internet connectivity in the rural and underserved areas of Ghana, using TV White Spaces in Koforidua as a case study. The paperinvestigates the challenges associated with lack of internet connectivity in rural Ghana and determines if the infrastructure necessary for the implementation of White Space technology in the rural areas was present and adequate. It also documents the user experience of Africa’s first commercial TV White Space network services in Koforidua, Ghana. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches was used. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used in selection and administering of questionnaires