World Panel released a suite of handheld solar chargers at AfricaCom, in Cape Town, this week.
According to the charging solutions company, the World Panel 500 (WP500) and World Panel 1000 (WP 1000) portable phone chargers bridge the revenue gap that exists as a result of charging difficulties.
World Panel founder and CEO John Anderson developed the solar-powered charging device after a visit to sub-Saharan Africa to trial solar-powered water boiling technology. During this visit, he witnessed how people struggled to keep their devices charged.
"When I talked to the locals, they told me they wanted something that would charge their phones as fast as a wall outlet and was portable so they could carry it around with them from job to job. It also needed to be durable and affordable."
He describes World Panel's solar-powered chargers as an energy solution created to power the mobile wave that is sweeping across Africa.
Equipped with patented "direct-from-the-sun" technology, the chargers' powering capabilities match those of wall outlets, which Cheryl Gordon, co-founder and marketing director at World Panel, highlights as a key differentiator between this offering and other products on the market.
Independent tests conducted using a BlackBerry handset showed that the average charge time when the device was plugged into a wall socket was three hours, 25 minutes. It took 22 minutes longer to charge when using the WP500 World Panel and, when using the WP1000, the device charged three minutes faster.
The World Panel chargers are built to handle the harsh African landscape, says Gordon. Built with durability in mind, they can also be fully submerged in water, she notes.
According to Gordon, the product has been well received at AfricaCom, with interest from mobile operators, distributors and governmental organisations from various countries. She believes this technology offers a great opportunity for mobile operators because it eliminates phone charging costs, which has hampered uptake in many rural areas, and allows for fast and easy charging - and a charged device will generate revenue for telcos. As such, World Panel is offering co-branding and bundling opportunities to operators, says Gordon.
The chargers will be priced at around R300 and will most likely be bundled with minutes or offered through promotions from mobile operators, Gordon says.
For updates on where to buy World Panel chargers, visit the World Panel Facebook page.
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