Wind and solar energy could be used to set up mobile phone networks in rural areas of the world without power. The world's first mobile phone base station powered by wind and the sun's rays will soon open in Namibia.
The trial follows a pilot held in Swindon, UK, led by Motorola. Mobile firm MTC Namibia will run the cell.
"We firmly believe we need a solution to go into rural areas and the key is speed - we need a quick roll out," said MTC executive Joachen Traut.
"Namibia is a huge country with only two million people - to get power to rural areas is very expensive.
"You are paying US $8,000 per kilometre to get a grid power line. And to get on the grid you can wait a year or two to get a power line."
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