Ericsson, Orange connect rural Africa

Alassane Diene, CEO of Orange-Guinea Conakry, says: "We are reducing our energy bill. These base stations are also easier to install and require less maintenance than the traditional site..."

Jan Embro, President of Ericsson for sub-Saharan Africa, says: "It is extremely exciting to be able to run sites on alternative energy sources. Limiting dependency on fossil fuels brings many advantages, but the greatest is the ability to offer sustainable connectivity to low-income users in remote areas across Africa."

Ericsson's hybrid diesel-battery energy solution replaces one of a site's diesel generators with a bank of specially designed batteries that are meant to handle a large amount of charging and discharging. This self-contained power solution can be set to meet the batteries' optimal charging and discharging levels, extending the lifetime of the battery and the generator in an attempt to reduce energy-related costs.

The Ericsson BTS 2111 radio base station is a main-remote solution without any active moving parts such as cooling fans. It reduces energy consumption, allowing the site to be fully powered by solar energy, supported by a battery bank for 24/7 operation.

This rollout program forms part of the sustainability initiatives of Ericsson and Orange, focusing on reducing the carbon footprint while making communication more affordable and accessible. Orange Group intends to have more than 1000 wholly solar-powered base stations in its African operations by the end of 2009.

For more information, visit http://www.ericsson.com or http://www.ericsson.mobi.
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