NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, May 20, 2005

The environmental vision of Israeli start-up Solar Power includes cellular and solar networks in Third World countries.
?We decided to focus on environmentally friendly energy for mobile phones, and on hooking up regions that had no infrastructure,? Tamari relates. ?Actually, it overlaps our field, because there are many places today where cellular networks are deployed first, because there is no wireline telephone network there, and it?s probably no longer worthwhile deploying such a network there. In many of these places, there is also no continuous supply of electricity, which is needed for cellular antennas.
?We work mostly with international wireless operators deploying new networks in developing countries. Actually, we market existing solutions to them. We represent Kyocera, a Japanese electrical appliances corporation that also manufactures solar panels, in the Middle East. Nevertheless, we?ll never sell the shelf solutions to our partners. We?ll always adapt them to the needs of every country and every operator.?
SolarPower is currently a partner in two projects in this area: one in Angola, and one in Ethiopia. The company will receive a total of $1 million from these projects. SolarPower?s sales were just under $1 million in 2003 and just over $1 million in 2004. The company expects to reach NIS 7-8 million in 2005, and make a profit.
Story found here.