Bangladesh Telco sets up solar-powered base stations
Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 14, 2007
Source: Reuters /Reporting by Ruma Paul, editing by Jacqueline Wong
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSDHA9039720071214
Bangladesh’s top mobile phone operator Grameenphone Ltd., majority owned by Norway’s Telenor (TEL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), has installed two hybrid solar-powered base stations in the country. The two sites, set up on an experimental basis, at Habiganj in the country’s northeast, are designed to discharge power for three consecutive days without any sunlight to recharge them, it said in a statement.
“This is another pioneering initiative by Grameenphone. It will not only help overcome the electricity supply problem but will also be good for the environment,” said its chief executive Anders Jensen. “If these pilot installations are successful we will set up more such solar-powered base stations in other areas of the country in the near future.”
Grameenphone dominates the local mobile market with nearly 50 percent market share, offering the largest network and the widest coverage. The company has so far invested $1.6 billion to build the network since its inception in 1997.
Mobile phone services are taking off rapidly in impoverished Bangladesh, which introduced them in 1992. The number of subscribers rose to more than 32 million at the end of October from 200,000 in 2001.
Grameenphone’s competitors include AKtel, which is majority owned by Telekom Malaysia International; Egyptian Orascom Telecom’s ORTE.CA Banglalink; CityCell, a joint venture between Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited and SingTel (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research); state-run Teletalk, and Warid Telecom International of the United Arab Emirates.
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