VNL, Community Radio and other thoughts

I think the future of community radio in many countries in West and East Africa means a move towards the role of community media centres. Radio will remain a core function of what they do, but villages will also add services that help members of the community do business, keep healthy, read at night, access family and friends abroad. To me this means a much closer cooperation with the mobile operators. This may be on the content side (SMS services in local languages) but it may also mean sharing towers, power and security. At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, they gave a prize to an Indian company exhibiting for the second time.

VNL now has nearly 100 base stations operating in India using solar power. The panel technology is much better than before and I believe we have reached a point where radio stations need to learn from the ways the companies like vnl in India have made it simple for a village to install its own base station. It is a question of plug and start calling. I have no connection with them. Just think they have got their ideas right.

Marriage of GSM and Broadcast Media

I am impressed by these guys - an Indian-Swedish start-up. Definite links here for community media in Africa.

Telecom equipment vendor VNL announced the launch of its solar-powered GSM system, which the company stated will change the telecoms market in rural areas. VNL has re-engineered GSM technology to reduce its power requirement and make it suitable for a rural environment where electricity is
scarce or unavailable. VNL stated that its WorldGSM system includes base stations that only need between 50W and 120W of power to operate (compared to 3000 W for a typical GSM base station). A WorldGSM base station is entirely powered by solar energy with a 72 hour battery back-up in place (also charged by solar power). The system also includes a rural-optimised MSC (Mobile Switching Centre), and a compact BSC (Base Station Controller), making WorldGSM a complete, end-to-end GSM network. VNL said that, with solar power, WorldGSM both reduces the operating expenses for mobile operators and contributes to a much lower environmental impact.