Solar powered cellphone launched in Kenya
By Philip Emase
A Kenyan telecommunications firm has launched a cheap solar powered
mobile phone for the low income market. Dubbed Simu Ya Solar,
the phone was developed by Safaricom Limited in partnership
with Chinese telecoms giant ZTE. It costs a modest $40, has a
built-in solar panel that taps energy from the sun and comes
with a conventional charger. It also provides basic internet access
and its battery can last up to 24 hours when fully charged.
The eco-friendly phone is already retailing in various parts of
Kenya, barely two months after Samsung began selling the
world’s first commercially released solar-powered cell phone
in India. It comes at an opportune time, when Kenya is grappling
with power rationing after poor rains led to critically low water
levels at its main hydroelectricity generation dams.
Kenya depends on hydroelectric power for about 60% of its energy
needs. The current shortage has forced its government to impose nationwide
power cuts, but even so, only about 15 per cent of the country’s 37
million people have access to electricity under normal circumstances.
“This solar charged phone will come in handy particularly in the rural parts
without grid electricity,” Safaricom’s CEO Michael Joseph said. Simu Ya Solar
will also be released to other African markets apart from Kenya.
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