Li-Fi promises 100 times faster internet than Wi-Fi using just a lamp

MWC 2016

The technology uses the frequencies generated by LED bulbs, which flicker on and off imperceptibly thousands of times a second, to beam information through the air, leading it to be dubbed the “digital equivalent of Morse Code”.

It started making its way out of laboratories in 2015 to be tested in everyday settings in France, a Li-Fi pioneer, such as a museums and shopping malls. It has also seen test runs in Belgium, Estonia and India.

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Dutch medical equipment and lighting group Philips is reportedly interested in the technology and Apple may integrate it in its next smartphone, the iPhone 7, due out at the end of the year, according to tech media.

With analysts predicting the number of objects that are connected to the Internet soaring to 50 million by 2020 and the spectrum for radio waves used by Wi-Fi in short supply, Li-Fi offers a viable alternative, according to its promoters.

“We are going to connect our coffee machine, our washing machine, our toothbrush. But you can’t have more than ten objects connected in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi without interference,” said Topsu.

Deepak Solanki, the founder and chief executive of Estonian firm Velmenni which tested Li-fi in an industrial space last year, told AFP he expected that “two years down the line the technology can be commercialised and people can see its use at different levels.”