Simon Petrus, a Teen from Namibia, Invents “Sim-less” and “Free-to-Call” Phone
The invention of a secondary school student has gotten Namibia’s social media abuzz for the right reasons. Simon Petrus has created a mobile phone that works with radio frequencies, no sim card nor airtime credit required. Calls can be made to anyone, anywhere, without interruptions, as long as they are done in an area with radio frequency.
It also makes uninterrupted calls where there are radio frequencies without the use of sim cards or airtime, and it is charged using an in-built radiator.
This invention was discovered in July at a regional school technology competition where he won for his rural school, Abraham Iyambo Senior Secondary School, in the Ohangwena Region in Namibia.
The Grade 12 student told a local media, newera.com.na that his unemployed parents sourced funds to make his two-year old project, which costs about USD 147, a success.
Simon Petrus has qualified for the national finals of the competition where he is the reigning champion for his two-in-one machine that dries and cools seeds.
The invention, which took two years for him to complete, was put together using scraps of old television and mobile phones, and required over $2,000 funding from his unemployed parents who sacrificed a lot to ensure their son’s project was successful.
Other than the sim-less phone, Petrus’ invention is a whole unit comprising of a working radio, television, a light bulb, a fan, and a socket. According to reports, the phone is not Petrus’ first invention, just his latest.
Last year, the young man won first place at a competition for young innovators in Namibia for creating a machine that doubles as a seed drier and a cooler. Going by the looks of things, this young man is set to clinch another gold medal in the forthcoming competition, having already won first place at the regional level for his “free-to-call” phone last Friday. “When he won last year, some judges were of the opinion that there was an engineer at home who was helping him. But the only help he has is from us the teachers here at school. He came up with his own project,” Taimi Vatileni, Petrus’s science teacher told New Era.
Petrus is an average learner and aspires to become an electronics engineer after he completes Grade 12, his teacher added.