July 28, 2008 - Telecom equipment vendor VNL has found a commercially viable way to turn rural residents of developing countries into long-standing customers: an energy-efficient, solar-powered mobile phone system that looks likely to blow the telecom market wide open, Solar Daily reports.

The company has re-engineered industry-standard Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications technology to both draw less electricity and run exclusively on solar power - a significant advantage in isolated areas located far from the nearest energy grid.

VNL's new 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.

"Telecoms operators and equipment manufacturers have traditionally failed to deliver GSM to rural areas for the simple reason that it's just too difficult and ultimately not sustainable, says VNL's CEO Anil Raj. "VNL's equipment has overcome these challenges and provides operators with a truly viable way to connect the next billion mobile users."

India's infrastructure provider, Quippo Telecom Infrastructure (QTL), will be trialing WorldGSM in rural areas of India in the near future. If all goes well, QTL will roll out an entire network to be integrated with other providers' networks.