Solar GSM & Microtelecom-VNL

Watch VNL’s CEO Anil Raj talk about the rural opportunity, the challenges associated with bringing connectivity to rural areas, WorldGSM™ – VNL’s solar GSM system,microtelecom, and the future of rural telecom.
A related report from Russell Southwood of Balancing Act states :

VNL’s business strategy is to tackle the cost base of Africa’s mobile operators in a number of different ways. It will produce a solar-powered base station that will function at a lower cost than its diesel-powered equivalent. It has types of base stations, all of which are considerably cheaper than existing base stations. Lastly, the base station unit has been simplified so that the unit’s can be supplied to franchisees who will be able to set them up out of the box.

For further coverage read Ethan Zuckerman's worldchanging post.