Mobile Operators are pivotal to the success of Smart City strategies. Connectivity is arguably the cornerstone of any successful Smart City. However, the involvement of Mobile Operators goes far beyond simply supplying the network.
The United Nations estimated that 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. Every major city is currently dealing with various challenges in different domains including transportation, education, the environment, healthcare, privacy and security, energy consumption, etc. An effective Smart City strategy needs to address these challenges through technological advancements and data analytics and ultimately improve the quality of life for citizens.
Cities can benefit significantly from Mobile Operators by tapping into their knowledge and expertise. Specifically, the use of AI and data analytics. By leveraging the power of AI, Smart Cities can reduce human error, automate operations, make effective data-driven decisions to improve the life of its inhabitants by utilizing innovative systems, implementing new commercial possibilities, and automating efficient urban management.
Smart Cities’ spending on technology in the next six years is expected to reach $327 billion by 2025 from $96 billion in 2019. The involvement of Telecom Operators in the adoption of Smart City technologies can take different forms. For example, it can be merely acting as a connectivity and infrastructure provider, or, becoming full Smart City co-creators. The more involved, the more value can be generated.
AI in Action – real-life examples
Smart City technologies require the processing of enormous quantities of data to function. The Big Data and AI capabilities and know-how of Telcos puts them in good stead to contribute to the Smart City ecosystem.
There are already thousands of use cases incorporating Big Data and AI to improve citizens’ ways of living. A few examples include:
- Public Safety – San Francisco: AI-enabled security cameras are being used to help police monitor illegal activities (see how).
- Congestion Relief – Bogota: Smart City technology unified the city’s systems into one central control center for traffic management. As a result, emergency response times improved by 40%, pollution was reduced and time spent in traffic was reduced for citizens. (source)
- Building maintenance – Singapore: A public housing group in Singapore wanted to use AI to predict when its elevators would require maintenance. It ran 10,000 buildings with around 25,000 elevators. Developed algorithms that can predict up to a week in advance when an elevator will malfunction (source)
Chng Zhenzhi, director of the National AI Office within Singapore’s Smart Nation and Digital Government bureau, said the goal is for AI to “solve real-world problems.”
Smart City Utopia – where do Telco fit?
Connectivity infrastructure only comprises of 5% to 10% of the Smart-City value chain. Telcos need deeper penetration and alternative offerings to take a larger slice of the Smart City pie.
29 billion connected devices are forecast by the end of 2022. These connected devices and sensors provide a golden opportunity for mobile operators to overlay the data on top of their own network data – to provide superior and more contextual insights. These insights are incredibly valuable for city governments and urban service providers to make smarter decisions.
Mobile Operators are starting to provide different managed services such as platform services or open data portals for local governments in addition to connectivity. Ambitious telecom operators are positioning themselves as much more than a connectivity provider.
Future for Telcos in Smart City Development?
There are already a plethora of fantastic examples of how to approach an effective Smart City strategy. For Mobile Operators to provide the ultimate value, they must engage with the government stakeholders to get a seat at the table and create a co-creator relationship vs being simply the connectivity enabler.
The rich data already held by Telcos on top of the new IoT and sensor data can unleash a new world of opportunities. Smart Cities are presenting an additional avenue where mobile operators are becoming further embedded in consumers’ daily life, beyond mobile devices.
At LigaData, we’re working on a number of innovative AI and Machine Learning use cases. Our advanced data analytics and AI products are specifically tailored for mobile operators and are providing our clients with real-time access to data to make data-driven decisions. Telcos are already providing subscribers with added value in the form of mobile financial services, streaming services, etc. The next step is to harness the power of their data further at a city-wide level to bring more AI use cases to life.