Clear Blue Technologies will supply smart off-grid power services to BRCK as the Kenyan technology company prepares to expand wireless internet hotspots across Africa.
The rollout is due to start in 2019 and run through 2024. BRCK said the expansion builds on its work in consumer electronics and connectivity devices designed for difficult operating conditions in East Africa.
BRCK’s SupaBRCK device can support up to 40 devices and switch between Ethernet, WiFi and 4G without interruption, according to the company. It said the equipment is meant for places where electricity is unreliable.
Clear Blue said its system offers low-cost off-grid power with remote monitoring, control and weather forecasting tools. BRCK said that power support is necessary if the hotspot network is to work at scale.
Reg Orton, BRCK’s chief technology officer, said smartphone use in emerging markets had reached 42 percent by 2017, but many users still lacked mobile contracts and relied on WiFi. He said connectivity remained too expensive for many Africans and pointed to BRCK’s free-to-consumer Moja platform as part of the response.
Orton said Clear Blue had the strongest option in the market on cost and reliability, and added that BRCK expected to keep working with the company.
The partnership followed earlier deployment of Clear Blue’s technology at 10 WiFi hotspot sites in Kenya in 2018.
