Mobile networks powered by wind

The world's first mobile phone base station powered by wind and the sun's rays will soon open in Namibia.

The trial follows a pilot held in Swindon, UK, led by Motorola. Mobile firm MTC Namibia will run the cell.

"We firmly believe we need a solution to go into rural areas and the key is speed - we need a quick roll out," said MTC executive Joachen Traut.

"Namibia is a huge country with only two million people - to get power to rural areas is very expensive.

"You are paying US $8,000 per kilometre to get a grid power line. And to get on the grid you can wait a year or two to get a power line."