2019 Global Smart Cities - Telecoms Infrastructure Plays a Key Role

Successful smart cities require significant ICT infrastructure

Telecommunications infrastructure plays an important role in providing the backbone for building the Smart Cities and Smart Homes which are emerging around the world. It is encouraging to see that so many governments and telecoms operators are working hard and investing heavily to deploy this underlying infrastructure which we will need for the future.

Fixed-broadband based on fibre is essential and mobile networks based on 4G, and increasingly 5G, will be necessary for change. There are already many cities and countries taking a lead role in Smart City developments - and these all have significant high-speed networks in place. Some countries will transform at a slower pace, particularly any emerging markets which are still developing their ICT infrastructure.

With the majority of citizens globally living in urban areas – governments are keen to try new approaches to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve the way we are consuming our natural resources.

Our global population is expected to grow even higher in the coming years, placing increased pressure on healthcare services, education, agriculture, traffic management, resources and the environment. There is a growing awareness that we need to run our cities better and be more efficient and more sustainable.

High speed networks based on fibre-optics and 4G/5G will allow Smart Cities to develop ecosystems based on IoT and Machine-to-Machine capabilities. This is turn will create the right environment for future initiatives based on Artificial Intelligence, Big Data analytics, Virtual Reality and so forth.

The BuddeComm annual publication provides analyses on overall smart city developments and identifies the leading countries from around the world. It includes valuable statistics and information on the key telecoms infrastructure required for our smart cities (fixed broadband and mobile technologies based on 4G and 5G). The report also provides case studies on two countries which are considered leaders in this area (Singapore and Hong Kong).