At Mulanje Secondary School, in Malawi's verdant tea-growing district, something remarkable is happening: Students and teachers now have broadband access to the Internet for the first time, thanks to an over-the-air network that connects the school with a telecom provider in a nearbytown. Installed last year, the network transmits signals over unused portions of the televisionspectrum—known as TV white spaces—from a high-gain antenna mounted atop the sturdy brickand-stucco building to a radio tower owned by Malawi Telecommunications, 2.6 kilometers away. Inside the school, in a new computer lab, students check email, do homework, and hang out onsocial media, just like teenagers the world over. • At the network's launch in May 2015, KondwaniNankhumwa, who was then Malawi's minister of information, tourism, and culture, listed themany ways in which the new broadband link would aid the community. Local residents, he said, “will be able to communicate to relatives who are working abroad. Small-holder growers will be able to access the prices of crops on the global market. Tourists interested in visiting Mulanje Mountain will be able to book accommodations, transport, and tour guides.” What's more, he predicted, the same TV white space technology could help lift Malawi's Internet penetration from less than 10 percent today to around 70 percent by 2019.
Abstract:
At Mulanje Secondary School, in Malawi's verdant tea-growing district, something remarkable is happening: Students and teachers now have broadband access to the Internet ...Show MoreMetadata
Abstract:
At Mulanje Secondary School, in Malawi's verdant tea-growing district, something remarkable is happening: Students and teachers now have broadband access to the Internet for the first time, thanks to an over-the-air network that connects the school with a telecom provider in a nearby town. Installed last year, the network transmits signals over unused portions of the television spectrum-known as TV white spaces-from a high-gain antenna mounted atop the sturdy brickand-stucco building to a radio tower owned by Malawi Telecommunications, 2.6 kilometers away. Inside the school, in a new computer lab, students check email, do homework, and hang out on social media, just like teenagers the world over.
Published in: IEEE Spectrum ( Volume: 53, Issue: 9, September 2016)