(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Ooredoo has reaffirmed its commitment to enhance the company's leadership role in "Smart City" technologies this 2015 by building
on its expertise in this field and recognising the growing demand for related services across its global footprint.
More than 10 major cities within Ooredoo's footprint have been classified as "mega-cities" hosting a population of more than 10mn,
with similar communities expected to grow as rural populations move into bigger urban areas.
To address this, Ooredoo said this year it expects to see a rise in the number of smart cities € urban areas that use ICT solutions
to address mobile, transport, energy sustainability, infrastructure, governance, and security issues.
As cities worldwide deal with a growing range of issues, including over-population, traffic congestion, pollution, and high levels
of energy consumption, smart cities are emerging as a significant opportunity to enrich society.
According to Ooredoo, there is a strong demand in emerging economies across its key markets, the Mena (Middle East and North
Africa) region and Southeast Asia. According to research group IHS Technology, the number of smart cities worldwide will quadruple
from 21 in 2013 to 88 by 2025.
Ooredoo said it supported a number of important smart city strategic initiatives over the past year across its operations "to stay
at the cutting-edge of this trend."
In December 2014, Ooredoo Qatar was confirmed as a Lead Partner in the Smart Cities Council, a leading 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 in the Smart Cities Council, Ooredoo will have the opportunity to aid the direction of the emerging smart cities
sector in Qatar, the region, and across the world. The company will also contribute to the Smart Cities Council's body of knowledge
including city tools and resources, mentoring, and workshops.
Ooredoo recently introduced a host of cutting-edge technologies such as the Ooredoo Machine to Machine (M2M) services to Qatar,
enabling companies to connect business assets directly with each other or with a central command centre.
It also launched The Smart Living-Baytcom Project at the recent ITU Telecom World 2014 € a "Proof of Concept Demo House" equipped
with next generation smart living concepts.
In addition, Ooredoo's Indosat organised a major conference on smart technology in Jakarta, Indonesia last year, to bring together
experts from across the field.
The event, "Smart ICT for your Business Success," saw a keynote presentation by the Mayor of Bandung, about the application of
smart city technologies in his city, which is the second largest metropolitan area in Indonesia with a sprawling urban population
of around 9mn.
At the event, experts and practitioners conducted in-depth analysis of the implementation, scope, and benefits of a range of
solutions, including smart mobility, smart connectivity, and smart IT sourcing, discussing 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 Optimiser, to optimise the Wide Area Network (WAN) bandwidth for
businesses, and its own M2M Platform.
Ooredoo is already working with a number of leading organisations to support the development of smart cities, and has signed a
strategic alliance with KT Corp of Korea to introduce new concepts and innovations.
The company is currently implementing a cloud-based Machine to Machine (M2M) platform, which would be rolled out in several
countries across its footprint this year. The M2M services would be available for businesses and can also play a key role in
implementing smart city technologies.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.