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As cellular networks continue to expand throughout the developing world, mobile base stations are increasingly located in rural areas that are often difficult to reach and not connected to electrical grids. As a result, an estimated 640,000 base stations around the world are off-grid. Diesel generators power most of these, but other options exist. This article is the first in a series looking at the relationship between mobile networks and energy. In this entry we take a look at the issues of diesel power and near term possibilities for greener, more sustainable options. Read more

GBI hosted its monthly Tech Series last Thursday, this time focusing on “Bringing Telecommunications to the Rural Edge.” Speakers shed light on the need, challenges and opportunities involved in the process of expanding connectivity to rural areas and promote development.

Ian Walter of Altobridge discussing low cost telecommunications solutions.

Photo credit: Laurie Moy

Ian Walter, Vice President of Technology at Altobridge, presented on “Low Energy, Low Cost Wireless Communications for Remote Communities,” an overview of the remote communities market and its size, key challenges and opportunities ensuring remote locations have access to affordable mobile and voice connectivity.

With the number of mobile subscribers set to exceed 6 billion by 2014, operators need to find innovative and cost-effective ways to expand connectivity to 2.1 billion living in rural areas, based on World Bank estimates.

“A combination of competition between the equipment vendors, government subsidies and initiatives such as the GSMA’s ultra-low cost handsets have combined to drive down the network and handset cost for service providers but site, backhaul and power costs remain high,” said Walter speaker on the key challenges of expanding connectivity in remote communities.

“None of the above initiatives address the operational costs that operators face when deploying sites in remote communities”, he added.

The solution is the solar powered Altobrige lite-site, which enables mobile network operators to bring mobile connectivity to remote communities at low cost. Meeting the needs of up to 1200 subscribers, the Altobridge lite-site has been specifically designed to optimize satellite bandwidth and minimize power consumption.

Troy Etulain speaking about USAID's connectivity project in the DRC

Photo credit: Laurie Moy

One project that will put these technologies into the field is headed up by Troy Etulain, Senior Advisor for Media Development at USAID. Mr. Etulain spoke about “Low-Cost Cellular Infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: LRA Affected Areas”, a case study on expanding connectivity in remote conflict areas.

Etulain offered contextual background on the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a militant group operating in Central Africa accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, to name but a few.

According to Etulain, the project’s goal is to empower civilians with the communications infrastructure to monitor and report LRA activity. This consist of partnering with public radio to report LRA incidents on a daily basis and installing on top of church buildings—for safety and higher access points—a base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site, a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment and a network.

Eric White, ICT Sector Economist for GBI, showcased the “Broad Applicability of Low Cost and Low Power Telecoms Solutions,” that advance development such as mobile apps used in agriculture, health, and education.

The GBI Tech Seminar Series is hosted monthly at USAID headquarters and covers a range of topics from connectivity and telecommunications access to content and applications. A video of this months program will be available online shortly.

In recent years there has been explosive growth in the global subscription rate for mobile services.  However, estimates are that there remains a gap in coverage somewhere on the order of 1.0-1.5 billion potential subscribers.  There is likely in addition to a gap of another 1.0+billion that have coverage but is not affordable  Of these, the overwhelming proportion live in rural communities.  Several reasons account for this lack of connectivity;

  1. Economics—for the carriers, there is relatively low revenue compared to cost of delivery,
  2. Lower hanging fruit—for most carriers, there are simply more profitable markets,
  3. Universal service funds—often these are not in place or are not effective in addressing this urban-rural gap, and
  4. Lack of electricity—in many rural localities there is simply the lack of power.

Fortunately this situation is beginning to change, with the following dynamics making this rural expansion increasingly practical.

Smaller-Lower Cost Pico-Micro Solutions—most rural communities have an average population of less than 2,000, and equipment companies are just recently starting to deliver solutions that address this market

Lower Cost Backhaul Solutions—historically mobile backhauls have been proprietary—further adding to the delivery cost.  The shift now is to a pure IP backhaul.  And with this, edge switching is possible for keeping local calls local—a critical element when the backhaul is via satellite.  IP backhaul also provides a single convergent solution that delivers both voice and broadband to the rural communities.

Solar panel displayed at Mobile World Congress

Photo Credit: VNL

Solar Powered Solutions—many of these small rural solutions are capable of being powered by solar, both at the tower-base station, as well as for the mobile handsets.  This is an absolute requirement as the number of communities not connected to a national grid is very similar to those without mobile/broadband coverage.

MicroTelco Business Model—the emerging technical and business model needed to address the rural challenge is that of a massively parallel approach.  This requires a technology that can be installed and supported by non-technical staff.  It also requires an approach by the carrier that move primary support to the rural community–possibly through a local community operator under the license of a carrier.

While the industry is just now beginning to focus on this market, a number of firms are starting to deliver low cost rural mobile solutions.  There is considerable variance in these solutions, but some are beginning to get the monthly average revenue per unit (monthly ARPU) required for sustainability of voice services, down to the $3-5/month range.  The following reflect several:

VNL—VNL is a company from India that has introduced a WorldGSM product line and community business model

Altobridge—Altobridge is an Irish company with a unique set of technologies and business model

STM Group—The STM Group offers complete backhaul and local distribution through their SuperPico GSM products

Ubiquisys—Ubiquisys one of a growing number of Femtocell firms delivering rural low-cost rural solutions

Nokia Siemens Network—NSN’s Village Connection solutions deliver low Monthly ARPU solutions for rural settings

Alcatel-Lucent–Alcatel-Lucent has been making recent investments in their arena and are poised to introduce a new line of low-cost solutions suitable for rural areas within this new year (CY2011).

The above represent an exciting opportunity for ultimately eliminating the urban-rural divide.  The GBI program is actively researching and engaging the above firms, along with others, to better position these within the overall context of USAID’s focus on addressing the rural gap.

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