Working with telecoms firm Broadway Partners, Nominet said Europe's first TV white space (TVWS) service will start this week on the Isle of Arran, west of Glasgow.
Customers can opt to pay GBP 25 monthly for a connection delivering 25/2 Mbps or GBP 35 for 35/3 Mbps, according to ISPreview.co.uk, and while an installation fee of GBP 200 applies, this may be waived under the UK government's Better Broadband rural-subsidy scheme.
TVWS was authorized for use by communications regulator Ofcom in 2015, using gaps left in the wireless spectrum between 470-790 MHz in order to avoid interference between TV channels.
The frequencies assigned to DTT vary and Nominet was chosen by Ofcom to run an online database allowing dynamic switching via GPS location to point the radio at the part of the spectrum available for TVWS use.
Following the introduction of 5G services from 2020, the scarcity of usable frequencies means such dynamic spectrum management may be the only way in which the next generation of ultrafast and Internet of Things networks will operate, according to Broadway Partners.
Unlike 2.4 and 5 GHz radio, TVWS works through trees, passes over hills and can penetrate buildings at long distances and has also been used for the IoT and as a backhaul resource.
Broadway Partners said achievable download speeds are set to rise to around 60 Mbps from mid-2017 thanks to new chipsets and greater channel aggregation.
BT, which tested white space broadband on the neighbouring island of Bute in 2012 but abandoned the project after finding throughput dropped off beyond 2km, expects its Openreach wholesale business to connect around 85-90 percent of Arran's population using conventional wired broadband.
Tourism is Arran's main industry and while the permanent population stands at around 5,000, this can swell to 25,000 in peak season, boosting demand for broadband.
