Doha: Ooredoo continues to enhance its leadership role in Smart City technologies in 2015, building on its expertise and recognising the growing demand for such services across its global footprint.
More than 10 major cities within Ooredoo’s footprint are classified as “mega-cities” hosting a population of over 10 million, and more are set to join them as rural populations move into bigger urban areas.
This year is likely to see a rise in the number of smart cities — urban areas which use ICT solutions to address mobile, transport, energy sustainability, infrastructure, governance and security issues.
As cities deal with increasing issues, including over-population, traffic congestion, pollution and high levels of energy consumption, smart cities are emerging as an opportunity to enrich the lives of the people.
There is demand in emerging economies in the Middle East and North Africa and Southeast Asia, which are key markets for Ooredoo.
According to the research group IHS Technology, the number of smart cities will quadruple by 2025, with at least 88 all over the world, up from 21 in 2013.
To be at the cutting-edge of the trend, Ooredoo supported smart city initiatives over the past year across its operations.
In December 2014, Ooredoo Qatar was confirmed as a lead partner in the Smart Cities Council, an industry coalition formed to accelerate the move to smart, sustainable cities.
Ooredoo joined global leaders in the smart cities sector who sit on the council, including IBM, Microsoft, MasterCard, and Cisco.
As lead partner, Ooredoo will have the opportunity to aid the direction of the emerging smart cities sector in Qatar, the region and the world. It will also contribute to the council’s knowledge, including city tools and resources, mentoring and workshops.
The company has introduced cutting-edge Ooredoo Machine to Machine (M2M) services to Qatar, enabling firms to connect business assets directly with each other or a central command centre, removing the need for human involvement, and introducing new solutions directly into homes.
Ooredoo also launched the Smart Living-Baytcom Project at the recent ITU Telecom World, a ‘Proof of Concept Demo House’ filled with the next generation of smart living concepts.
Ooredoo’s Indosat organised a conference on smart technology in Jakarta, Indonesia, during the year. The ‘Smart ICT for your Business Success’ saw a keynote presentation by the Mayor of Bandung on the application of smart city technologies in his city, which is the second largest metropolitan area in Indonesia with an urban population of around 9m.
The forum analysed implementation, scope and benefits of solutions, including smart mobility, smart connectivity, and smart IT sourcing, and discussed how to plan, implement and operate the smart IT ecosystem with cloud-based applications and infrastructural choices.
Indosat also launched three smart services at the event, premiering MyApps, an Application Marketplace; WAN Optimizer, to optimise the Wide Area Network bandwidth for businesses, and its M2M platform.
Ooredoo is working with leading organisations to support the development of smart cities and has signed an alliance with KT Corporation of Korea to introduce new concepts and innovations.
It is implementing a cloud-based M2M platform, which will be rolled out in several countries this year. M2M services will be available for businesses and can play a key role in implementing smart city technologies.
The Peninsula
