Release time：2017-07-25
Africa is a historical and natural extension of the Maritime Silk Road. Zheng He, a famous Chinese navigator in the Ming Dynasty, made seven voyages to the Western Seas, four of which reached the coast of East Africa, spreading the friendship between China and Africa and promoting friendly cooperation.
Africa is an important pole in the current
world political and economic structure, and it is also an important direction
and foothold for China to build the "Belt and Road". Undoubtedly, the
construction of the “Belt and Road” will bring unprecedented opportunities to
the development of China-Africa cooperation. Similarly, for the development of Witlink,
it is also a rare opportunity.
Africa is an important pole in the current world political and economic structure, and it is also an important direction and foothold for China to build the "Belt and Road". Undoubtedly, the construction of the “Belt and Road” will bring unprecedented opportunities to the development of China-Africa cooperation. Similarly, for the development of Witlink, it is also a rare opportunity.
Looking at the general trend of China-Africa cooperation, it has become a consensus to seek cooperation and promote development. African countries such as South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Ethiopia are looking forward to the "One Belt, One Road" cooperation strategy with China. The Monnet Railway, which connects the Kenyan capital Nairobi with the port of Mombasa, the largest port in East Africa, was built by China in 2014 and was successfully opened to traffic in May 2017. It is expected that in the near future, this railway will greatly change the life of African people along the route.
Witlink entered Africa in this good atmosphere of cooperation between China and Africa. At the beginning of 2016, the products and solutions of Witlink went out of the country for the first time. In less than two years, nearly 2 million power terminals/user terminals embedded in Witlink's communication technology products have served the African energy sector, and product sales have grown by more than 100% annually.
The energy field is the basic engine of production and life in the African continent and the communication technology is the conveyor belt of the energy engine, which is related to system, facility, terminal and user, corresponding to the production, transmission, distribution and usage process. Witlink people know that the opportunity is rare and they still have a long way to go.
In 2016, the project team set foot on the land of Africa for the first time. As soon as the project leader got off the plane, he went straight to the customer's office and detailed the decomposition and arrangement of the follow-up work plan. Everyone went out early and returned late day after day, worked overtime every day, and got up at 5 am to drive to the scene for several hours. The sun was hot spicy and at noon they bought croissants at the street stall. When the computer was out of power, they sat on the road to find a local resident to borrow a battery. At night, after the team went back to the hotel to finish the work report and the domestic conference call, it was already 1 am. Finally, before returning home, the project team handed in a satisfactory answer sheet: completed the node deployment twice as much as the original plan, and trained the customer on new business and new technology, and reconstructed the business flow. The customer is full of praise for the effect of the deployment, and directly praises the Chinese engineers for their responsibility and power.
Engineers surveyed peripheral equipment on site
After the first battle, in the next two years, Witlink team frequently traveled to and from the Central African continent to explore the needs of the site at the first time and the products and solutions have withstood various tests. As time goes by, Witlink’s star project, PLC Mesh/RF Mesh+ took root on the new "Silk Road", blossomed and bore gratifying fruit.
Troubleshooting needed engineering vehicle without remote communication system
During the two years, Witlink people have witnessed the earth-shaking changes in the electricity environment in Africa and the evolution of their products. Before the transformation, African power equipment was basically installed in the last century with aging line, serious power shortage, high line loss, low return rate, chaotic asset files, and the maintenance cost is huge.The local power bureau has great difficulties in management and charging. The profitability is not good and the economic benefits are poor. The difficulty in returning funds will affect the next step of the construction of the facilities. As a result, there is a shortage of electricity and there will be power outages almost every day. In addition, the waste of electricity caused by line losses is more prominent, leading to a tighter relationship between supply and demand.
After the transformation of the communication scheme, using the prepaid payment model and especially the wireless network transmission technology, the city-level power consumption information monitoring can be realized remotely. The Mesh+ technology independently developed by Witlink can also automatically discover the surrounding asset information and is convenient for energy management department to inspect and position, which has brought a lot of economic benefits to the power bureau, improved the quality and convenience of the entire project, allowed users to use stable and reliable electricity and reduced power safety accidents. At the same time, it also eliminates most of the electricity leakage and leakage behavior, helps to improve the information level and management level of the energy management department, guarantees the stability of power supply, reduces the line loss, improves the electricity fee income, and guarantees sufficient cash flow. Power companies can serve end users more efficiently and centrally, without wasting a lot of manpower to charge and troubleshoot on-site.
High-tech communication technology can be regarded as a “Mengnei Railway” that drives the development of the African energy industry in a certain sense. It connects and transmits the data and information of all links in the industrial chain. The importance of its role is self-evident. Based on its own technological advantages, Witlink will continue to work hard to promote the internationalization of China's energy and IoT communication technologies and products, and reward customers with the most professional technology and services to help the African economy to accelerate.
