Case Study

With a staggering world population of 6.9billion people, there are only 5.3 billion global mobile cellular subscribers which represent 77% of the world population[1,2]. But only about 2 billion people globally actually have access to the internet which represents 29% of the world population[3].

In 2009, the EU Parliament approved a law ensuring Internet access as a fundamental human right[4]. Internet access was deemed to be extremely connected to the Right to Information

Pie chart of global population of telecoms subscibers

This means the rights of 71% of people in the world are being infringed upon. This alarming figure is further highlighted by the fact that 71.6% i.e 3.8 billion of mobile subscribers represent users in developing nations. It can be deduced that, the developing nations are the major users of mobile cellular technology as a result of poor fixed telephone lines and in most cases there is complete absence of fixed telephone lines. Nigeria and India are nations with large population and sub standard telecommunication infrastructure.

Population Figures Diagram

With the developing nations also noted for poor or non-existing electrical power connection which is vital for the mobile telecoms operators, cost of mobile cellular subscription is much higher than it is in developed nations.

Mobile operators in these developing nations power their base transceiver stations primarily with diesel generators from the onset. This has grossly reduced the profit the mobile operators would have made which could be used in the upgrade of network services but are instead reinvested in the purchase of generators and diesel fuel.

Hence, most of the mobile cellular subscribers in developing nations are urban dwellers, as they are usually employed in the cities and consequently can afford the outrageous mobile subscription costs. This makes the acquisition of mobile communications for a greater percentage of the rural dwellers a far-fetched dream.

MTN Nigeria, one of the four mobile telecoms operators in Nigeria with 4,798 base stations spends a whooping $82.8 million on generator acquisition almost every three years and $3.5 million monthly on diesel oil and generator maintenance[5]. This puts the OPEX of generators and diesel at about $69 million annually. This figure unfortunately rises with global crude oil price.

With the prevalent high cost of desktop computers and laptops, the most cost effective way to ensure that the rural dwellers, especially in developing nations gain access to the vast array of opportunities the internet has to offer is via mobile cellular platforms. In order to achieve this, mobile cellular operators would need to change their source of power generation to a more cost effective technology.

Hence power generation via Renewable sources would need to be considered in the most cost effective manner in order to make telecommunication more affordable for rural dwellers.

In order to properly define suitable renewable energy sources for an off-grid telecoms station we utilised two software packages (ESP-r and Homer) to simulate the operating conditions in the aforementioned developing nations. Each country consists of six selected locations viable for siting rural telecommunication stations based on topology, climatic conditions and absence of electrical grid connectivity.

ESP-r software was used to to define the energy load by the cooling system of the shelter as a significant part of energy consumption While Homer software was used to find the possible combination of renewable energy schemes for telecoms stations based in India and Nigeria. This combinations also show the rate of battery charge and the economical analysis of adopting each energy resource over a period of 5 to 20 years.





References used:

  1. International Programs Center, U.S. Census Bureau available at: http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html
  2. Global Mobile Statistics. Available at: http://mobithinking.com/stats-corner/
  3. International World Statistics. Available at: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
  4. Beta News Article on EU Parliament approves law ensuring Internet access as a fundamental right. Available at: http://www.betanews.com/article/EU-Parliament-approves-law-ensuring-Internet-access-as-a-fundamental-right/1241651104
  5. IT News Africa Article on MTN Nigeria wants tough laws to safeguard telecoms industry. Available at: http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2010/08/mtn-nigeria-wants-tough-laws-to-safeguard-telecoms-industry/
© 2011 MSc Renewable Energy Systems and the Environment Group Project