Vodocom expands NSN Village Connection in Tanzania
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Vodacom Tanzania began trials of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) Village Connection solution to connect rural and suburban communities earlier this year, following a successful development by NSN in India.
Now the system is set play a bigger role in NSN's approach to all emerging markets. At a recent presentation to analysts and journalists Marc Rouanne, NSN's recently appointed Head of Radio Access confirmed that Village Connection will be one of the company's key strategies for expanding coverage in developing and emerging markets. Village Connection is not so much a technology as a partnership based business strategy for extending network coverage. Typically a local entrepreneur in a previously unconnected area forms a partnership with a mobile network operator and a micro-finance provider. The developer acquires an Access Point which can support up to 70 handsets. The Access Point can be set up in a very short time frame without trained network personnel. The local developer is then in a position to market coverage to customers in the area and can provide a range of services including pre and post paid voice, SMS, flat rate local calls, etc. Billing and support are all provided locally. One of the principal benefits for network operators is that the system avoids prohibitive roll out costs. This is vital when you realise that Village Connection is typically focussed on areas where the monthly communication spend of users is between three to five US dollars. NSN claims Village Connection is commercially viable at these very low ARPU levels. If this proves to be the case in Tanzania and other developing markets it answers one of the key challenges of rural coverage - to deliver cost effective network capacity at a low operating cost. This is in many ways the operator's and developer's dream: low CAPEX coupled with low OPEX. The Village Connection system is PC-based, using IP (Internet Protocol), with backhauling delivered mainly by satellite. Each Access Point is supported by a regional Access Centre which can support up to 200 Access Points. Thus each Access Centre provides network coverage for up to 14,000 subscribers. Although the system can enable remote local areas to work independently of network operators, Vodacom Tanzania is using Village Connection to increase the reach of its own mobile network further. Vodacom currently services four million of Tanzania's 6.5 million mobile users. Peter Correia, Vodacom COO, comments: "The low OPEX and operational simplicity that the solution presents provides us with the necessary arsenal to maintain our coverage and quality leadership." The Vodacom Tanzania system was the first live implementation in Africa following extensive development in rural India. According to Marc Rouanne, the key to the success of Village Connection is its ability to flatten networks and drive out the high costs associated with network complexity. Source: Developing Telecoms |
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