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Build-It-Yourself Telecom Towers From VNL help connect Remote Villages at Lower Costs
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VNL, a Swedish-Indian start-up claims to have developed a solar powered mobile network designed, from the ground up, to serve rural populations in developing economies — and do it profitably. Called WorldGSM, their product has been getting attention from the media because of its low cost (about $3,500) and near-zero energy consumption (100 watts) requirements. Another attractive feature is the relatively simple installation, without the need of engineers.
Such inventions have the potential of making a big positive impact for telecom users at the base of the pyramid - the under served huge population in developing countries who may not spend much. VNL calls it ‘Micro-telecom’.
To power mobile networks in remote areas today, telecommunications operators pair base stations — the tower-top radio transmitters that form the backbone of mobile networks — with diesel-powered generators and batteries. These are impractical and expensive: Fuel accounts for 65% of the cost of operating a typical base station.
VNL has managed to develop a simplified base station that is powered by solar panels and requires just a fraction of the electricity of typical base stations.
However, convincing telecom operators to buy a stripped-down base station made by a little-known start-up won’t be easy. VNL is among many companies trying to develop mobile-phone technologies for poor rural areas.
In India, Ericsson has installed some 40 base stations that run on bio-diesel, essentially recycled cooking oil. Alcatel-Lucent’s solar base station requires about 750 watts to run, while Ericsson’s solar base station requires about 600 watts. The companies wouldn’t disclose the costs but both sets of gear require technical staff to install them over a matter of weeks.
VNL’s base station will cost $3,500 and require 100 watts to run, about the same as a light bulb. By contrast, the GSM stations most widely used today can cost anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000. The most energy-efficient models require around 600 watts; others may need several thousand watts.
The tower is designed to make it easy for people with little professional training to install. Though tested in labs, VNL’s technology is just starting to be tried out on the ground. The start-up recently signed an agreement with Quippo Infrastructure Equipment Ltd., an independent Indian mobile-infrastructure company, to test the VNL solar base station in northern India. VNL says it hopes to sign contracts with Indian telecom operators over the next year.
If VNL’s base station takes root, it could make it possible for Indian telecom operators such as Vodafone Essar Ltd., in which Vodafone Group PLC has a majority stake, and Bharti Airtel Ltd. to wire more remote villages at a much lower cost and more quickly. That is one of their main objectives, because most people in Indian’s cities already have mobile phones and price competition there is intense.
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