IBC
Dubai has fired the starting gun in the race to be the world's first United Nations' approved Smart City, with 5G mobile broadband a key component of its mission.
The Emirate will be the first city to assess the efficiency and sustainability of its operations using key performance indicators developed by the ITU-T's focus group on Smart Sustainable Cities.
The two-year pilot project is a collaboration between Smart Dubai and the ITU - the UN agency responsible for information and communications technology (ICT) - and will contribute to the international standardisation of Smart City indicators.
“UAE is home to some of the highest ICT penetration rates in the world,” said Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the UAE. “We are creating the conditions necessary for the government and industry to capitalise on this ICT ubiquity to build smarter, more sustainable cities that are highly responsive to citizens’ needs.”
As part of the plan, Dubai's two major telecoms operators are competing to deliver the region's fastest mobile broadband speeds.
Etisalat and du are upgrading their network to advanced 4G technology (4G LTE-A / 4G+) which is a stepping stone en route to establishing a 5G network.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei is named as a partner in both telco operator's efforts.
Earlier this month, du beat its rival to the introduction of a first LTE-A network, claiming its service will offer customers broadband speeds of up to 225Mbps. It has also had a paper on 5G standardisation approved by the ITU.
Saleem Al Blooshi, du's EVP for Network Development and Operations, said the milestone “strengthens Dubai's position as it works towards becoming a Smart City.”
5G prototypes and trials are predicted to begin by 2018 with commercialisation projected from 2020.
That's a significant date for the Emirate because in 2020 it will host the World Expo, a five-yearly event first held in London in 1851 and designed as a showcase of technological wonder.
Under the theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ Expo 2020 Dubai will be held at the Dubai Trade Centre-Jebel Ali, a 438-hectare site under construction, including a gated 150-hectare exhibition zone. It will be the first Expo held in the Middle East.
Among the other visitor attractions planned to be open by 2020 are IMG Worlds of Adventure, 'the world’s largest temperature-controlled indoor themed-entertainment destination; Legoland Dubai, Bollywood Parks Dubai and the Dubai Safari Project.
By 2020, it is estimated that 6.5 billion people worldwide will use mobile networks for data communications and that 100 billion additional items — such as water metres, medical devices, and home appliances — will also be connected via mobile networks.
5G is expected to be able to deliver data speeds in the range of 10 to 50Gbit/s, which is 3,000 times the speed of current 4G networks. It is a foundation platform for the Internet of Things allowing billions of devices to connect to the internet at very low latency. Among the applications thought possible with 5G, for which there is currently no standardisation, are driverless cars, remote surgical operations and holographic video.
Already one of the world's best physically connected nations, with Al Maktoum International expected to be the world’s largest airport with capacity for 160 million passengers by 2020, Dubai aims to lead in online connectivity too.
No comments:
Post a Comment