VNL

Wrap Up of Futurecom, Sao Paulo, Brazil 2010 5 Nov, 2010

Futurecom is the largest telecom conference and trade show in South America, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil every Autumn, bringing over 15,000 attendees from over 40 countries. This year, VNL hosted a 150 sqm booth located at B10.

At the show, we announced that we were actively looking for both resellers and manufacturing partners. As a company focused on being green and socially responsible, VNL is looking to manufacture or source most of the components locally that are not part of our core business, and our mission is to create these jobs locally with local partners. Some of our staff were able to tour different local factories (enjoying a delicious lunch of spicy pan-fried crocodile during one road trip!) to ascertain the capabilities of potential partners. This is a critically important goal for VNL. Shipping steel to the farthest corners of the planet from India, while feasible, is not the most green or socially responsible methodology available. Our business model is to do good while building a profitable business, and our business is low power GSM and broadband for rural areas.

The introduction of broadband to our offering caused a stir with local operators. Many were incredulous when they saw the technology at the booth and were inspired to get started. They immediately understood how VNL’s WorldGSM™ technology could impact the rural areas of their countries and were eager to learn more.

Rajiv Mehrotra, Founder, Chairman & CEO of VNL was interviewed by Telesemana where he discussed why VNL was entering the Latin America market and the synergies between India and Brazil. He also presented “Using Solar Power to Deploy Networks in Low Economy Rural Areas” which was well attended by operators, press and analysts.

VNL at Africa Com in South Africa, November 10-11, 2010 1 Nov, 2010

Mobile operators in Africa now have a way to provide mobile voice and broadband services to rural communities and still turn a profit.

VNL is proud to announce its participation at Africa Com 2010. This conference will be held at the Cape Town Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa from November 10th to 11th, 2010.

VNL’s participation will announce the addition of broadband services as part of their award-winning WorldGSM™ solution for Africa - the solar powered GSM network infrastructure equipment specifically made for rural areas with ARPUs of less than $2. WorldGSM™ is the first commercially viable GSM system that is independent of the power grid. It runs exclusively on solar power and requires no diesel generator backup. It is also designed for simple delivery and deployment by local, untrained workers – all resulting in zero OPEX, dramatically lower CAPEX, and near zero maintenance.

The next billion subscribers will be coming from rural populations, away from saturated urban markets. If you’re planning on visiting Africa Com 2010, stop by VNL’s booth and see the future of rural wireless telephony. VNL is changing the DNA of rural telecom by providing commercially viable new building blocks that will transform the way you build your networks in the future.

Visit us in Booth #B01-06 to learn more.

• Click here to see the map.
• Click here to arrange an appointment to visit us in the booth and receive a free mobile phone charger.*

Also Visit VNL at:

• February 15-18, 2011: Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain – booth # 2B33

*While supplies last.

VNL Looking for Partners to Connect the Unconnected in Latin America through Solar Power 26 Oct, 2010

Mobile operators in Latin America now have a way to provide mobile voice and broadband services to rural communities and still turn a profit at 2-3 $ ARPU.

Sao Paulo, Brazil — 26th October, 2010: VNL (www.vnl.in) today announced the launch of broadband capability as part of their solar powered telecom infrastructure solutions for the Latin American market. Their award-winning WorldGSM™ solution is solar powered and specifically made for rural areas with ARPUs of less than $2 - $3.

WorldGSM™ is the first commercially available GSM system that is independent of the power grid. It runs exclusively on solar power and requires no diesel generator backup. It is also designed for simple delivery and deployment by local, untrained workers – all resulting in zero OPEX, dramatically lower CAPEX, and near zero maintenance.

High speed broadband internet access enables village children to take advantage of distance learning and other e-learning initiatives, while the village community can utilize the system for e-medicine, e-finance and e-governance tasks. VNL has found a new way to extend networks sustainably using simple, affordable structures that bring voice and broadband connectivity to rural areas, all at a very low ARPU that is attractive to operators.

VNL’s turnkey rural network solution enables rural communities to access mobile phone services and high speed internet (outdoor & indoor) without depending on the power grid or diesel generators to run the network. Traditional models of infrastructure have proved to be unviable in rural areas because of the huge demand for power and the high OPEX as a result of running networks on diesel in the absence of grid power.

Speaking at Futurecom, Rajiv Mehrotra, Founder, Chairman of the Shyam Group of companies said:

“We believe that we have an exciting new range of solutions which are ideal for the markets of Latin America. “The demand for high-speed data networks in rural is a need unmet, and we are here at the right time. Our solar powered rural broadband network solution is an example of affordable and sustainable technology to connect remote communities.

We are actively looking for partners in the region to take our plans forward. The essence of VNL’s vision is to develop strategic local partnerships at all levels. We are also considering investing in manufacturing in Brazil. We are open to technology collaboration with companies based in Brazil to take our solutions to the remote interiors where millions of people are waiting to be connected. We are on a mission to connect the unconnected, and we will share know how to those who join hands with us.

We are also extremely hopeful that the Brazilian Government will find our green solution ideal to connect the unconnected in a sustainable way, paving the way for development. The response from everyone at Futurecom has been tremendous.”

The solutions are on display at Booth # B10, Futurecom, Transamerica Expo Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil from October 25th through 28th, 2010.

VNL Wins in the m-Business & Commerce Category for the 2010 South Asia mBillionth Award 23 Jul, 2010

NEW DELHI - July 23, 2010: VNL was recognized in the m-Business & Commerce category of the 2010 mBillionth Awards sponsored by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF). The mBillionth Award honours the potential of the mobile sector across South Asia.

The award recognises companies that best fulfill the category criteria, which is the use of mobile and complementing applications and embedded services for support and optimization of business processes and the creation of new business models in commerce like m-commerce. The mBillionth Committee chose VNL’s WorldGSM® from more than 200 nominations that were received. The nominations came from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Maldives.

About the mBillionth Award (http://mbillionth.in/)
The mBillionth Award South Asia 2010 is first of its kind in the region recognising and facilitating mobile innovations, applications and content services delivery. Its mission is to honour excellence in mobile communications across South Asia spread over nine core categories. The mBillionth Award is South Asia’s leading mobile content award aimed at a larger, regional mobile congress in media and policy advocacy.

About Digital Empowerment Foundation (http://www.defindia.net/)
The Digital Empowerment Foundation is a Delhi based not-for-profit organization that seeks to find solutions to bridge the digital divide. It was founded by Osama Manzar to uplift the downtrodden and to create economic and commercial viability using Information Communication and Technology as means.

VNL at East Africa Com, Nairobi, Kenya: April 27 & 28, 2010 6 Apr, 2010

Mobile operators in East Africa now have a way to provide mobile voice and data services to rural communities and still turn a profit.

VNL is proud to announce its participation at East Africa Com 2010. This conference and exhibition will be held at the Kenyatta Convention Center in Nairobi, Kenya from April 27th through 28th, 2010.

VNL’s participation will update mobile network operators on the progress in deploying their award-winning WorldGSM™ system in Africa - the solar powered GSM system specifically made for rural areas with ARPUs of less than $2. WorldGSM™ is the first commercially viable GSM system that is independent of the power grid. It runs exclusively on solar power and requires no diesel generator backup. It is also designed for simple delivery and deployment by local, untrained workers – all resulting in zero OPEX, dramatically lower CAPEX, and near zero maintenance.

The next billion subscribers will be coming from rural populations, away from saturated urban markets. If you’re planning on visiting East Africa Com 2010, stop by VNL’s booth and see the future of rural wireless telephony. VNL is changing the DNA of rural telecom by providing commercially viable new building blocks that will transform the way you build your networks in the future.

Visit us in Booth #31 to learn more.

• Click here to see the map.
• Click here to arrange an appointment to visit us in the booth and receive a free solar mobile phone charger.*

Also Visit VNL at:

• November 10-11, 2010: Africa Com in Cape Town, South Africa – booth # B01-B06

Smartphone.biz-news.com: “Voices of the Industry” 22 Feb, 2010

MWC 2010: Interview with Rajiv Mehrotra, CEO of VNL

Watch the video interview with Rajiv Mehrotra, the Founder, Chairman & CEO of VNL, the first and only company to have found a way of building sustainable telephone networks for the three billion people (half the world’s population) who live in rural areas not covered by a mobile network.

Read the full article at smartphone.biz-news.com »

Live from Mobile World Congress: VNL Wins Green Mobile Award for Best Green Programme Product or Initiative 17 Feb, 2010

Barcelona, Spain: VNL is proud to announce the receipt of GSMA’s 2010 “Green Mobile - Best Green Programme Product or Initiative” Award during Mobile World Congress’ Global Mobile Awards Ceremony. The judges stated that selection was made based on the sheer number of people who’s lives could be changed through deployment of VNL’s technology:

“This is a real breakthrough, with potential, huge impact for billions of people in rural villages. It could have significant impact in allowing rural communities to have access to affordable mobile communications.”

Rajiv Mehrotra, Founder, Chairman & CEO of VNL accepted the award on behalf of the VNL team. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Mehrotra stated:

“Three billion people are not covered by a network. Most of these people live in areas without electricity. Our zero OPEX, solar powered GSM base stations will help mobile operators reach them affordably. Thank you to the GSMA for acknowledging our mission.”

VNL’s zero-opex solar-powered WorldGSM™ base station – developed specifically for use in rural areas where people have less than US$2 a month to spend on their phone bills was shortlisted in both the ‘best network innovation’ and the ‘best green programme, product or initiative’ categories.

VNL is the first and only company to have found a way of building sustainable telephone networks for the three billion people (half the world’s population) who live in rural areas not covered by a mobile network. Of this number, some 1.6 billion people have no electricity and another one billion live in areas with unreliable access to power (GSMA figures).

VNL’s pioneering work has been widely praised: earlier this week, Fast Company named VNL one of the “Fast 50: The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” for 2010. In December, VNL was named as a Technology Pioneer 2010 by The World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org). In September it was named the third most innovative company - and the most innovative telecoms company – in the world in the Wall Street Journal’s annual Technology Innovation Awards. In November VNL was selected as a 2009 Top Pick and named as a company to watch in the wireless infrastructure market by Light Reading, a specialist telecoms analyst and publishing house. VNL also won the “Best Technology Foresight” category at the 2008 World Communications Awards and came second in the “Green Network Hardware and Infrastructure” category at the 2009 CTIA Wireless E-Tech Awards.

For more information, visit www.vnl.in or contact VNL’s PR representative Bridget Fishleigh +44 7946 342 903, bridget@nomadcomms.com