Singapore is Looking at Authorizing 189 MHz of White Spaces Spectrum

Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority now is working on the framework for enabling use of former broadcast TV spectrum (TV white spaces) in Singapore, making Singapore among the first nations (United States, Canada and United Kingdom also are among the early movers) looking to commercialize use of TV white spaces for Internet access services.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission  is allowing white spaces operations on a license-exempt basis, with the management of such devices through a database.

The Office of Communications in the United Kingdom is adopting a similar approach. IDA is also considering adopting the same approach to facilitate the initial deployment of white spaces in Singapore.

The IDA also seeks input about whether some white spaces spectrum should be licensed, however, allowing those licensees to gain more certainty about spectrum for services that require something more like a traditional mobile service.

The IDA has allocated the VHF spectrum between 174 MHz and 230 MHz and the UHF spectrum between 494 MHz and 790 MHz for white space operations. A total of 21 MHz in the VHF band is available, including 181 - 188 MHz, as well as 209 MHz to 223 MHz.

There is more spectrum in the UHF band, including 502 MHz to 518 MHz, 614 MHz to  622 MHz, 630 MHz to 710MHz, 718 MHz to  742 MHz, 750 MHz to  774 MHz and 790 MHz to 806 MHz, representing a total of 168 MHz.

In all, 189 MHz will be made available, a huge amount of spectrum in highly-desirable frequencies.

IDA also is inviting views on allowing operation of white space devices in the 694 MHz to 806 MHz band until IDA allocates these frequencies for IMT deployment, set for 2020.