Zain agrees to host weather equipment on its networks

Mobile telecom operator Zain has agreed to host weather equipment at mobile network sites being rolled out across Africa in order to give timely weather information to farmers and fishermen.

The Weather Info for All initiative will increase dissemination of weather information via mobile phones to users and communities, including remote farmers and fishermen, in order to minimize deaths and accidents related to bad weather and to improve crop planning.

Zain Africa Group spokesman Antoine Aboukhalil said the telecommunications industry in Africa is well-positioned to support the initiative.

Accurate weather data and forecast is not available in most African countries, according to Aboukhalil.

The initiative is a partnership between Ericsson, Global Humanitarian Forum and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to deploy up to 5,000 weather stations at Zain’s Cellular Sites across Africa. The weather stations will be installed at new and existing mobile network sites by Ericsson. Ericsson will also develop selected mobile applications for weather information dissemination.

According to the United Nations, the livelihood of an estimated 70 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is dependent on agriculture. But due to lack of weather forecasts, farmers are unable to make informed decisions in planning the seeding and harvesting of crops.

"Zain and other service providers will provide bandwidth for the dissemination of forecasts and early warning system," Aboukhalil said in an e-mail exchange.

Through its mobile innovation center in Africa, Ericsson will also develop mobile applications to help communicate weather information developed by local meteorological and hydrological services via mobile phones.

More than 18 automatic weather stations are already being deployed and installed at Zain’s new wireless network sites in the Lake Victoria region in east Africa, and in villages in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Zain operates in 16 countries in Africa including Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Ghana.