Microsoft amplifies Airband globally

Microsoft will expand its Airband Initiative partnerships with service providers across Latin America and Africa to provide high-speed internet access for nearly 40 million people. The Airband Initiative, launched in 2017, initially focused on tapping into unused broadcast frequencies between TV channels (or TV white spaces) to help deliver enhanced connectivity coverage and advance digital equity in the U.S. The initiative has since increased its global presence and built out a “multi-technology, multi-frequency approach,” delivering connectivity based on what is best suited for each region, including using fixed wireless, fiber optics, Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), or now even satellites. Airband relies on partnerships with local and regional internet and energy access providers, telecom equipment makers and nonprofits – as well as governmental and other organizations – to accelerate local infrastructure projects. The expanded partnerships in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Guatemala, and Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda represent noteworthy progress for the company’s initiative to bring internet access to a quarter of a billion people around the world, including 100 million people on the continent of Africa, by the end of 2025.