31 May 2017 – World Telecom Labs (WTL) today announced that it can now provide electricity to villages in rural Africa. The provision of power is a natural extension for Vivada Wholesale (Village Voice and Data), WTL’s multi-award winning ‘Coverage-as-a-Service’ system for building wholesale networks in rural Africa.
Vivada can now be powered by solar in off-grid villages and areas with unreliable grid suppliers. Villagers will be able to charge devices such as phones and powerboxes at the Vivada installation.
WTL has cemented its position as the company with the best commercially viable and sustainable system for building networks in rural villages in emerging markets by winning multiple awards including the Best Connectivity Solution category at the AfricaCom awards, the Best African Project category at the annual Global Carrier Awards and the Best Technology Deployment category at the Capacity Africa Awards.
Vivada Wholesale was specifically developed so that wholesale carriers can build low OPEX, low-CAPEX networks in rural areas for use by multiple operators. The networks support all types of pre and post-paid customers with varying telecoms budgets including GSM for every type of handset; wifi connectivity for smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs – and connectivity to cybercafes and hotspot call cabins.
Leigh Smith, MD of WTL, said We have consistently been ahead of the curve with Vivada. It provides a complete solution for wholesale carriers to build a rural network – and can now be powered by solar with excess electricity shared with villagers.
WTL is already working with wholesale operators in five countries in Africa to build rural networks and, with infrastructure sharing now becoming considered across the continent, the company firmly believes that the removal of the CAPEX cost of building a rural network will encourage previously reluctant operators to start offering services in these areas.
Vivada includes a micro GSM and/or LTE base station, wifi routers, backhaul optimisation, billing and provisioning software, VoIP compression switches and SMS servers. The entire system runs on less than 200W which can be supplied by solar with battery back-up.
Vivada Wholesale also offers VoLTE-ready solutions which enable wholesale operators to build either GSM and wifi networks in rural areas, or jump straight to voice and data.
The Vivada VoIP app (Vivolve) allows either the wholesale carrier– or the operators themselves – to create their own OTT services. Vivolve is a totally configurable, brandable application that is fully integrated into WTL’s Vivada billing and provisioning.
About World Telecom Labs (WTL)
Headquartered in Belgium with offices in Nigeria, Brazil and the UK, WTL helps operators in emerging markets to deploy cost-effective, reliable voice and data networks for both rural and urban environments.
WTL has deployments in more than 30 countries in Africa with a well-deserved reputation for excellent service, reliable products and an expert team with extensive experience in Africa.
WTL’s innovative, practical and cost-effective portfolio includes its:
- Award-winning range of high capacity VoIP and hybrid VoIP/TDM switches which have been specifically designed to replace the huge, expensive, maintenance-heavy switches that have traditionally been used to transfer VoIP traffic onto other networks.
- Vivada (Village Voice and Data)
- Signalling gateways and pre-paid applications for emerging carriers and telecom service operators.
For more information visit www.wtl.be, on twitter @worldtelecomlab or contact WTL’s PR rep on +44 7946 342 903, skype: bridgetfishleigh or bridget@telecomsprafrica.com
