The Infocomm and Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore has invited companies to participate in planned trials of Light-Fidelity (Li-Fi) technology.
The authority will waive frequency fees associated with Li-Fi trials, and will offer companies interested in conducting the trials the ability to use an existing technical trial framework.
Li-Fi is being developed as a potential Wi-Fi alternative capable of delivering speeds up to 100 times faster than the radio technology. The technology uses the visible light portion of spectrum between 400-THz and 800-THz.
But unlike WI-Fi, Li-Fi cannot penetrate objects such as walls, so it would most likely serve as a complementary rather than a replacement technology.
IMDA said there is a growing awareness of and interest in the technology in Singapore. In July, Temasek invested in Edinburgh-based pureLiFi, and companies including StartHub are working with pureLiFi to explore bringing the technology to the city state.
As well as the potential in home and enterprise networking, Li-Fi opens up significant location-based advertising and navigational opportunities for businesses, IMDA said. Users of future Li-Fi enabled devices would be able to be beamed relevant information based on their locations.