April 10, 2009 - The GSM Association, a mobile-phone industry trade group, has pledged to power 118,000 remote base stations with renewable energy within three years - nearly 60 times the 2,000 such base stations currently in operation worldwide, Reuters reports.

Building solar- and wind-powered base stations in remote areas far from electricity grids is a key plank in the telecom industry's campaign to expand its reach into emerging markets.

Mobile phone operators have their work cut out to reach GSM's target,however. Nokia Siemens Networks, for example, currently operates just 300 renewable-powered base stations, although "there are [now] more financing tools available, and the business case keeps looking better when wind and solar prices are coming down," according to Anne Larilahti, the company's head of sustainable business operations.

In February, Ericsson announced plans to deploy more than 100 solar-powered base stations in rural parts of Africa.