The growing role of telcos in the successful deployment of smart city infrastructure (fibre and 5G) requires them to fully recognise the smart city ecosystem, and catalyses the need for greater collaboration among network contenders, according to Sarah Mills, Sector Director for Network Operators at SSE Enterprise Telecoms.
"Smart cities have always been seen as a mobile network operator (MNO)-led initiative, with support from telecoms companies to provide high capacity optical connectivity to the mast sites," she said. "However, more recently, we’ve seen the roles of ownership start to shift.
"Telecoms businesses are taking a more primary role in the planning and development of smart cities. Increasingly, these telcos are now being invited to sit in on council meetings to help them understand 5G and how it will serve their communities, as well as what planning needs to happen for this to become a reality.
"Telecoms infrastructure providers are having to build new fibre networks that can backhaul the high capacity required for faster data transmission and lower latency from 5G.
"Telcos need to embrace the ecosystem of fibre supply, consolidate and work together, as well as consult smart city developers on how to achieve the dense infrastructure a truly smart city needs."