COMMENTARY BY KIEREN MCCARTHY
Microsoft’s 10-Year White Spaces Boondoggle
Microsoft has been pushing to use vacant TV channels for broadband communications for 10 years with nothing to show for it. And its latest plan for a rural service is not going anywhere either. “Even when you account for the interference problems. Even when you account for the real-time technological requirements. Even when you consider that it costs $1,000 to connect people to the network. The issue is that there is a very low concentration of people in the only areas that need this technology. And those people are not willing to pay much to get fast internet access.”
