State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

In 2008 I wrote about VNL and its efforts to create low power base stations. Here’s an update about their work which appeared at Technology Review.

An Indian telecom company is deploying simple cell phone base stations that need as little as 50 watts of solar-provided power. It will soon announce plans to sell the equipment in Africa, expanding cell phone access to new ranks of rural villagers who live far from electricity supplies.

Over the past year, VNL, based in Haryana, India, has reengineered the traditional technology of the dominant cellular standard, called GSM, in order to create base stations that only require between 50 and 150 watts of power, supplied by a solar-charged battery. The components can be assembled and booted up by two people and mounted on a rooftop in six hours.

One such station–dubbed a “village station”–can handle hundreds of users. Groups of such village stations feed signals to a required larger VNL base station within five kilometers. In turn that larger station, which is also solar-powered, relays signals to the main network. The village station can turn a profit even if customers spend on average only $2 a month on the service, instead of the $6 required to make traditional systems cost-effective, the company says.

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Technology Review reports about an interesting concept in development: a cell phone that never needs recharging. Nokia says it’s developing technology that could draw enough power from ambient radio waves to keep a cell-phone handset topped up. The target for the prototype is to harvest up to 50 milliwatts of power–enough to slowly recharge a phone that is switched off. Current prototypes can harvest 3 to 5 milliwatts.

Ambient electromagnetic radiation–emitted from Wi-Fi transmitters, cell-phone antennas, TV masts, and other sources–could be converted into enough electrical current to keep a battery topped up, says Markku Rouvala, a researcher from the Nokia Research Centre, in Cambridge, U.K.

The Nokia device will work on the same principles as a crystal radio set or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag: by converting electromagnetic waves into an electrical signal. This requires two passive circuits. “Even if you are only getting microwatts, you can still harvest energy, provided your circuit is not using more power than it’s receiving,” Rouvala says.

To increase the amount of power that can be harvested and the range at which it works, Nokia is focusing on harvesting many different frequencies. “It needs a wideband receiver,” says Rouvala, to capture signals from between 500 megahertz and 10 gigahertz–a range that encompasses many different radio communication signals.

Historically, energy-harvesting technologies have only been found in niche markets, powering wireless sensors and RFID tags in particular. If Nokia’s claims stand up, then it could push energy harvesting into mainstream consumer devices.

Very interesting site, stumbled upon it via HBR blog. It is a place where top thinkers of the world are highlighted and everyone is encouraged to share their ideas and thoughts. The site features talks about cutting edge technologies and concepts, such as social media. The site is sponsored by Nokia and here’s how they encourage input:

Share your Big Idea with the world! Our editors’ favorites will receive a Nokia N95 mobile device!

Submit your Big Idea to ideasproject.com, and join our conversation. For the next three months, our editors will be regularly highlighting their favorite ideas, and sending an Nokia N95 to the Big Thinker who contributed. We’ll also be featuring our favorite Big Ideas to feature along with the other ideasproject.com contributors.

Nokia is asking for submissions to the mobile applications innovation contest. The winner will get US$30,000, second place $15,000 and third place $10,000. This is appropriate, given the last post on opportunities in the ICT sector.

Forum Nokia, Nokia’s global developer program, challenges mobile and web application developers worldwide to submit best-in-class applications for use on Nokia devices.

Here are the 3 categories -

• Internet innovation – Calling on web developers to transform consumer-focused ideas into real applications on Nokia devices using technologies that include Nokia Web Runtime, XHTML, CSS, Java Script, AJAX, widgets and other standards-based web technologies.
• Flash – Challenging creative developers and designers to build compelling applications that expand the capabilities and user benefits of Flash Lite on Nokia devices.
• Emerging Markets and Mobile Necessities – Urging developers to create innovative applications across mobile technology platforms – ranging from SMS through Series 40 and S60 device platforms. All applications will be considered, including those developed using Java, Python, or open source. f your submission in this category is specific to the “Emerging Markets” type of applications, it should work on Nokia Series 40 devices, such as the Nokia 2323 classic or the Nokia 2330 classic.

Detailed instructions here. See the rules for submission.

Last month we shared with you something about the solar phones concept. Now we have them in market.

Samsung Electronics has introduced its first ever, innovative, solar powered cellular phone; “Solar Crest” in Pakistan, emphasizing Samsung’s vision and its pioneering efforts for environmental sustainability. As a global leader in cutting-edge technology, Samsung is leading the way into a greener future by utilizing sources of renewable energy. This innovation is a quantum leap towards technologies that will minimize reliance on ecologically harmful sources of energy. This handset is designed with integrated solar panels, thus it operates and recharges without any ecological deterioration.

Solar Crest has been designed to create unmatched convenience for the customers; its solar technology has a special utility for cell-phone users residing in countries where electricity shortages are experienced quite frequently. Therefore, the Pakistani customers will get the maximum benefit from Solar Crest. Elsewhere, the vast Indian population can also seek relief from the electricity crisis through Samsung’s Solar handsets.

Sung Woo Han, Country Manager Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, expressed his views and stated, “Samsung’s Solar Crest phone reflects our commitment to global eco-friendly products, being the first ever solar powered device, which will help consumers charge their phones without electricity. This revolutionary phone will benefit consumers everywhere, especially Pakistan, by enabling significant conservation of energy.”

[via Pakistan Observer]

Economist magazine poses the obvious question that why wireless electric power has not made enough progress? If phone calls and web pages can be beamed through the air to portable devices, then why not electrical power, too?

Gartner, a market-research firm, says the prospects for wireless power are realistic, but the path to widespread adoption may take 3 to 5 years. In December 2008, there was the formation of Wireless Power Consortium, a body dedicated to establishing a common standard for inductive wireless charging, and thus promoting its adoption. Universal standards are the single most important requirement for the adoption of wireless charging, according to the chair of this consortium.

Fierce competition between manufacturers of mobile devices is also accelerating the introduction of wireless charging. The star of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, an annual jamboree held in Las Vegas, was the Pre, a snazzy smart-phone from Palm. As well as the standard arsenal of technical features—touch-screen, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and built-in camera—the Pre also has an optional charging pad, called the Touchstone, which uses electromagnetic induction to charge the device wirelessly. When the device is placed on the pad, the two recognise each other through built-in sensors. Magnets embedded in the pad align the handset and hold it in place during charging.

Fulton Innovations is also a competitor in this and was also present in Vegas with their wireless charging products for cars.

In November 2008 TI announced that it had joined forces with Fulton Innovations “to accelerate development of efficient wireless power solutions”. TI, which provides components to many of the world’s leading mobile-phone makers said it was exploring the production of integrated circuits that supported the technology developed by Fulton Innovations, with the aim of reducing the cost and size of the components needed for wireless charging and making it easier for device-makers to incorporate them into their products quickly.

The magazine article talks about other startups such as WildCharge which has already started selling a number of wireless-charging devices that take a cheaper but simpler approach in which mobile devices make electrical contact with a special charging pad via four small conductive metal studs. WildCharge and the licensees of its technology have developed replacement back covers for a number of popular devices, including Motorola’s RAZR phones and video-game controllers for the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3.

Some companies have taken an approach on the other end of the spectrum: long-range transmission of wireless power.

This technique uses the energy in radio waves, broadcast from a transmitter and harnessed by an antenna, to generate electricity. Using the passive-power principle found in crystal radios, the method has proved successful over short distances in places where it is difficult to replace batteries or carry out maintenance. The problem is that the intensity of the radio waves needed to charge mobile phones and laptop computers over long distances might be hazardous to human health, and regulators would be unlikely to approve.

From a special section of WSJ. I thought it brings together some interesting stories of mobile usage.

Follow That Taxi. If you’ve ever tried to pay for a taxi with only an ATM or credit card, you’ve probably found yourself out of luck – unless you’re in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Consumers there can buy “Q-Cash” cards at supermarkets or from taxi drivers. To pay the fare, the customer sends a text message with the taxi number and fare amount to a designated number.

Catch That Train. In Japan, long considered ground zero for mobile technology, people purchase soda pop from vending machines and pay for train tickets with their cellphones. The so-called “wallet phones” use tiny computer chips named FeliCA that communicate with reader devices to deduct the payment. Recent trials of such devices in London subways, where people swiped their cellphones over a reader, were a huge success: Nine of 10 people expressed satisfaction with this NFC (near-field communication) technology. “The questions revolve around who will pay for the technology,” says Mark Beccue, an analyst with ABI Research. “It took off in Japan because the carriers bit the bullet and funded the technology with no clear return on investment.”

Tune In. While people in London use cellphones to pay for the tube, Japanese commuters also use their devices to watch the tube. “In Japan and South Korea, there is a stigma against talking on your cellphone on commuting vehicles – it’s rude,” said Jeff Orr, an analyst with ABI Research. “So, people watch mobile TV with Bluetooth headsets.” Indeed, one survey found wealthy Asians are more likely to have a mobile TV (89 percent) than a mobile laptop (87 percent) or phone (76 percent). Orr believes the switch to all-digital broadcasting could cause the technology to skyrocket in the United States over the next few years – on cellular handhelds, automotive infotainment systems and Mobile Internet Devices (MID), multimedia devices that are larger than smart phones.

Go 3-D. A Japanese company just released the first cellphone that presents 3-D images. When you press a button below the keyboard, the screen appears to protrude slightly from the 3.1-inch liquid crystal display, creating a three-dimensional effect, just like those 3-D movies (but without needing special glasses). How much 3-D material anyone wants to view on a cellphone is another question.

Avoid Late Payments. In the United Kingdom, people can request text reminders for their utility bills – and then pay the bills with a touch of a button. Customers elect when they want the reminder to come, from the day before their bills are due (which costs a buck) to several days before (which is free or twenty-five cents).

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WIRED magazine asked Vint Cerf about innovation and opportunities for entrepreneurs.  Interestingly Vint started by mentioning Google Apps, about which I wrote just a few days ago. Reality is that innovation and creation of new ideas is the only way out of current economic trouble. Vint also talks about how “capital is scarce and cautious” but the availability of seed money because it’s small amounts despite the high risk.

Here’s Vint Cerf’s response to the question about innovation in the areas of Energy, Health care and Education.

You have touched on three areas in which Google not only has interest but has already begun to express it. Google Apps for Education is a suite of applications intended to be helpful to higher level educational institutions but in the long run, I think Google has a role to play in helping to assemble relevant content for classroom use. It seems highly likely to me that even in its present posture, Google’s resources are being used for teaching purposes or to help students prepare homework.

Energy, health care and education are just three examples of areas in which information and information management are critically important. How are we using our energy? What appliances in homes or business are consuming the most energy? When do they consume it? Can the load be shifted? How efficient are these devices?

On the health-care side, health care is information. Diagnosis, treatment, patient history, knowledge of pharmaceuticals and surgical procedures — it’s all information. Our own personal medical records represent incredibly important information to each of us because it can be crucial in helping to diagnose or treat a medical condition. It might be needed in a hurry should there be a need for emergency treatment, especially at a hospital you have never been to before.