Wireless Broadband Alliance whitepaper outlines Wi-Fi’s central role in smart cities

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has published the first whitepaper prepared by its Connected City Advisory Board (CCAB), outlining the status of City Wi-Fi around the world.

The whitepaper reveals that activity in Wi-Fi is at an unprecedented level as cities seek expert assistance to deploy the technology; with over 75% of respondents saying they have plans in place to significantly increase investment in Wi-Fi. The whitepaper included interviews with leading city representatives and an industry survey conducted throughout the Connected City ecosystem spanning 44 cities over 6 continents.

These findings underline the key role that wireless connectivity will play in underpinning the architecture of the Smart City. The WBA industry survey supports these findings; with the perception of Wi-Fi as being overwhelmingly reliable, cost-effective and easily deployable, cities are seeing it as a means to improve productivity.

Shrikant Shenwai, CEO, Wireless Broadband Alliance
Shrikant Shenwai, CEO, Wireless Broadband Alliance

The research also identifies key challenges for cities to address and reviews the different business models and monetisation strategies for City-wide Wi-Fi. Key challenges facing cities are the need to address the lack of expertise in developing and deploying City-wide Wi-Fi, how to manage public expectations and user experience, and the choice of technology to use. The dominant business model is providing free access in combination with 3rd party sponsorships, however cities are actively exploring new business and partnership models to deploy other city services using public Wi-Fi services.

The whitepaper also contains interviews with key executives from the cities of San Jose, Singapore, New York, Dublin and Barcelona, providing real-world examples of the importance of increasing urban connectivity.

“The Connected City Advisory Board pools the expertise of prominent individuals at the forefront of Smart City technology, creating an authority on the importance of wireless connectivity to the next generation of urban environment,” said Shrikant Shenwai, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance. “The board focuses on the development of Connected City plans and blueprints, the creation of public-private ecosystems and collaborative mechanisms for resource contributions. Combining input from the CCAB with the WBA’s expertise in bringing together ecosystem partners and creating best practices and de facto industry standards for diverse ecosystems, the WBA can develop key insights and solutions as to how the cities and industry can optimise technologies to deliver societal benefits while leveraging public/private partnerships.”

The Connected City Advisory Board was formed in July 2015 in recognition of the vital role Connected Cities and widespread wireless connectivity will play in realising the potential of Smart Cities. The board is currently made up of CIOs from cities such as Barcelona, Calgary, Dublin, Liverpool, Mexico City, New York City, Singapore, San Francisco, San Jose and the governments of Delhi and the Philippines.

Comment on this article below or via Twitter:   @M2MNow OR @jcm2m

RECENT ARTICLES

Enhance EV charging performance with cellular connectivity

Posted on: March 28, 2024

Electric vehicles (EVs) are steadily growing their market share at the expense of internal combustion engine vehicles. The growth is fuelled by several factors. Perhaps most importantly, prices for EVs have started to drop as competition in the industry is intensifying. New players and models are emerging, prompting several established EV makers to lower their

Read more

Panasonic and Jasmy unveil Web3 Platform for IoT data control

Posted on: March 28, 2024

Panasonic has joined forces with Jasmy (JASMY) blockchain to introduce a Web3 platform that will facilitate the connection of personal data on the Internet of Things (IoT). The collaboration between the Japanese-based blockchain and Panasonic Advanced Technology was initiated in February, but the official announcement was made on March 26.

Read more
FEATURED IoT STORIES

What is IoT? A Beginner’s Guide

Posted on: April 5, 2023

What is IoT? IoT, or the Internet of Things, refers to the connection of everyday objects, or “things,” to the internet, allowing them to collect, transmit, and share data. This interconnected network of devices transforms previously “dumb” objects, such as toasters or security cameras, into smart devices that can interact with each other and their

Read more

The IoT Adoption Boom – Everything You Need to Know

Posted on: September 28, 2022

In an age when we seem to go through technology boom after technology boom, it’s hard to imagine one sticking out. However, IoT adoption, or the Internet of Things adoption, is leading the charge to dominate the next decade’s discussion around business IT. Below, we’ll discuss the current boom, what’s driving it, where it’s going,

Read more

9 IoT applications that will change everything

Posted on: September 1, 2021

Whether you are a future-minded CEO, tech-driven CEO or IT leader, you’ve come across the term IoT before. It’s often used alongside superlatives regarding how it will revolutionize the way you work, play, and live. But is it just another buzzword, or is it the as-promised technological holy grail? The truth is that Internet of

Read more

Which IoT Platform 2021? IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide

Posted on: August 30, 2021

There are several different parts in a complete IoT solution, all of which must work together to get the result needed, write IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide – Which IoT Platform 2021? authors Robin Duke-Woolley, the CEO and Bill Ingle, a senior analyst, at Beecham Research. Figure 1 shows these parts and, although not all

Read more

CAT-M1 vs NB-IoT – examining the real differences

Posted on: June 21, 2021

As industry players look to provide the next generation of IoT connectivity, two different standards have emerged under release 13 of 3GPP – CAT-M1 and NB-IoT.

Read more

IoT and home automation: What does the future hold?

Posted on: June 10, 2020

Once a dream, home automation using iot is slowly but steadily becoming a part of daily lives around the world. In fact, it is believed that the global market for smart home automation will reach $40 billion by 2020.

Read more

5 challenges still facing the Internet of Things

Posted on: June 3, 2020

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become a huge part of how people live, communicate and do business. All around the world, web-enabled devices are turning our world into a more switched-on place to live.

Read more