Plans to use solar and wind power to enhance mobile voice and data service coverage in rural areas of Africa are starting to bear fruit, with new base stations in several countries.
Wind and solar powered base stations are now operational in Namibia, Uganda and Malawi, and mobile operators have plans to launch more of the new base stations.
Communication networks in Africa are concentrated in urban areas. Many rural communities are off the power and communications grid.
Although mobile service providers have tried to use diesel generators to run base stations in rural areas, the attempts have proved to be unsustainable due to the high cost of diesel and generator maintenance. As a result, mobile service providers in Africa have been unable to expand their services to some rural areas.
Meanwhile, Africa’s first base stations powered by wind and solar energy have become operational. Mobile Telecommunications Ltd. (MTC) Namibia last month announced a GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) trial using a wind and solar powered base station designed by Motorola Inc.
Mobile Telecommunication Company Ltd. (MTN), based in South Africa, has also launched several base stations using the Motorola technology. “We are looking at the development as a powerful tool to take mobile phone development to rural areas,” said MTN Chief Commercial Officer Eric Van Veen. MTN operates in 21 African countries and the Middle East including Zambia, Nigeria, Botswana, Swaziland, Syria, Yemen and Iran.
The solar and wind base stations have a solar panel that converts solar energy to electrical energy and a wind turbine that is propelled by wind to produce electrical energy to run the stations.
In March, governments and development organizations in Eastern and Southern Africa announced that they have started adopting solar energy to bolster energy resources for information and communications technology (ICT) in rural areas. Zambian Ministry of Science and Technology Permanent Secretary Paul Zambezi said solar energy will have a positive impact on rural societies by allowing people to access computers and the internet.
A lack of electricity in rural areas has also made ISPs (internet service providers) hesitate to build capacity in rural areas.
