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FCTs bring telephony to Lesotho's villages
April 15, 2004
Mountainous Lesotho has 2.2 million inhabitants and is one of the poorest countries in Africa. The level of infrastructure for communications, roads and power is low, especially in remote rural areas. The main source of household income is money sent back from expatriates working in South Africa, which completely surrounds Lesotho.
Ericsson faced a real challenge when the country's major telephone operator, Telecom Lesotho, asked it to expand the network, doubling the fixed- line subscriber base. After the company was privatized in 2001, government regulations required Telecom Lesotho to expand its network from 21 000 to 36 000 subscribers by the end of 2003. Ericsson would have to deliver a speedy solution.
Leon Nel, Technical Manager with Ericsson South Africa, says: "We were faced with two challenges. First, we had to do a fast rollout of voice telephony to new subscribers. Second, we had to expand the network in an environment of poor infrastructure where deploying copper lines or a wireless local loop is too expensive and takes too long."
Ericsson's answer was a solution based on the F220m Fixed Cellular Terminal, which took care of a large portion of the expansion. This brought several benefits for the operator, including lower costs and a fast rollout, using the GSM network of Econet Esi-Cell Lesotho, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telecom Lesotho.
Nel says: "By using an FCT solution, we managed to keep down the installation and equipment costs for Telecom Lesotho. This solution also brings down the maintenance and operational costs."
Semi-public or private access
A typical installation in a Lesotho village consists of one or more solar-powered FCT boxes; each box in turn houses four FCT units. An FCT unit could be described as a mobile phone mounted in a box on a pole. Villages can use the boxes to provide semipublic or private telephone access.
Nel says: "The end customers don't think of this as mobile telephony. For them, it's just a normal fixed line."
Customer objective
- A speedy and cost-effective expansion of fixed-line networks in rural areas, increasing the networks' capacity from 21,000 to 36,000 subscribers.
- A solution built on the existing GSM network, with Fixed Cellular Terminals to connect the GSM network to a fixed line.
- Reduced installation costs, no requirements for cable routing
- Fast and simple installation
- Reduced maintenance costs
- Increased traffic in the mobile network
Ericsson has now delivered more than 6000 F220m FCT units. Telecom Lesotho appreciates the reliability of the solution and the fact that it facilitates pre-paid services. The operator plans further expansions this year and hopes to have 8000 units fully installed by mid-2004.
Tony Wilkinson, Sales and Marketing Manager for Ericsson South Africa, says: "The high quality of the Fixed Cellular Terminal, along with good pricing, strong distribution and a built- in battery back-up facility, made it easier for Ericsson to win the tender. We have a virtually zero failure rate on this equipment, which will work for us in repeat orders."
