DIGICEL, THE Caribbean and Pacific mobile operator owned by businessman Denis O’Brien, is to introduce the world’s first low-cost solar-powered mobile phone.
The announcement was made at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona where executives from the mobile industry yesterday turned their attention to environmental matters.
Digicel said it will launch the Coral-200-Solar in selected markets in June. The low-end phone has a black and white screen and provides basic voice and text messaging capabilities.
Manufactured by Chinese firm ZTE, the Coral-200-Solar was designed by Dutch start-up Intivation.
Irishman Prof Donald Fitzmaurice is executive chairman of Intivation, which until recently traded as True Solar Autonomy.
Prof Fitzmaurice said the deal with Digicel came about through his personal relationship with Mr O’Brien who had been “tremendously helpful” in getting the deal done.
Prof Fitzmaurice, who is professor of nanochemistry at University College Dublin, said one hour of solar charging provides 15 minutes talktime on the phone.
He said the technology would increase business for operators in developing markets, which typically have a high level of sunshine with people living an outdoor lifestyle.
The GSM Association (GSMA), which organises the Barcelona conference, recognised Intivation as the European winner of the Mobile Innovation Awards which were announced yesterday.
The association also announced it is supporting Digicel in the use of renewable power for its base stations on the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu.
Following the second phase of its green power network implementation, which is supported by the GSMA development fund, 25 base stations in Vanuatu are being powered using wind and solar energy.
Separately the association said it was leading an initiative by 17 mobile operators and manufacturers to create a universal charger for mobile phones.
By 2012 the group says a “universal charging solution” using micro-USB interfaces will be widely available.
It claims that having a common format for charger connections and energy-efficient chargers will reduce the amount of energy wasted charging phones in standby by 50 per cent.
Members of the consortium include Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, Hutchison Whampoa’s 3 Group, ATT, Motorola, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, O2-owner Telefonica and T-Mobile.
Also in Barcelona, Nokia said it would bury the hatchet with longtime adversary Qualcomm in a bid to lower production costs.
In a deal that marks the first time Nokia will use Qualcomm chipsets in its 3G phones, it gives Qualcomm access to a major share of the smartphone market.
The companies have fought for years over intellectual property rights and royalty payments.
– (Additional reporting: Reuters)
