Orange Middle East & Africa and Huawei are leveraging AI-powered solar base stations to tackle one of Africa’s biggest telecom challenges—reliable connectivity in remote and underserved regions.
Unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2026, the “AI Solar” solution combines solar energy with AI-driven forecasting and energy management to address unreliable power infrastructure and harsh environmental conditions. The system analyses weather patterns and network demand to optimise energy usage, ensuring continuous service even during low solar generation periods.
In practice, the platform can dynamically scale operations by shutting down non-essential equipment when energy is limited, preserving core network functionality. This approach has already delivered measurable results, with outages reduced by up to 45–50% in deployments such as Côte d’Ivoire—without requiring additional battery investments.
Orange has deployed nearly 1,200 rural sites, where maintaining stable power remains a critical operational challenge. The integration of AI helps improve efficiency while reducing costs, making rural connectivity projects more commercially viable.
Beyond infrastructure, Orange plans to expand AI across its broader ecosystem, including network automation, customer experience, and digital services like its Max It super app. The goal is not just connectivity, but enabling meaningful digital participation across sectors such as finance, agriculture, and manufacturing.
With over 170 million customers across 18 countries, Orange sees AI-driven energy management as a key enabler for scaling connectivity and accelerating digital inclusion across Africa.
