By employing a hybrid diesel-battery system and solar panels, the duo hope to increase their mobile coverage in rural and urban areas allowing regions without an established power grid to access mobile communications.
The pair also wish to tackle the challenge of reducing carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.
Alassane Diene, CEO of Orange Guinea Conakry, said, ‘We are reducing our energy bill. These base stations are also easier to install and require less maintenance than the traditional site. They also offer greater reliability and therefore considerably improved quality of service.’
Jan Embro, president of Ericsson for sub-Saharan Africa, added, ‘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.’
Orange Group intends to have more than 1000 wholly solar-powered base stations in its African operations by the end of 2009.