Huawei Unveils Smart City ‘Center of Excellence’ Addressing Key Drivers of Smart City Development in Latest White Paper

Huawei to drive smart city initiatives with mobile broadband from concept to reality with innovative portfolio of solutions

Mobilk - As Middle East cities continue to become more connected through intelligent infrastructures, Huawei—a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider—has launched a dedicated ‘Center of Excellence’ to assist governing bodies and telecom operators to drive smart city initiatives from concept to reality.

In a bid to showcase its Smart City vision for a Better Connected World, Huawei’s ‘Center of Excellence’ also announced a white paper in partnership with Information Data Corporation (IDC) on ‘Enabling Smart Cities with Mobile Broadband’. The report outlines and emphasizes why mobile broadband is a key consideration for sustainable Smart Cities of the future, assessing its impact on economies, the environment and citizen’s quality of life. 

As interconnectivity and interoperability become crucial components for effective smart cities, the report maintains that evolving mobile broadband networks is essential for such initiatives. The report also recognizes Dubai as an example of a Smart City initiative that is demonstrating higher levels of readiness in achieving its Smart City ambition compared with some other neighboring countries. 

Huawei’s ‘Center of Excellence’ will act as a knowledge hub for industry professionals to share best practices in Smart City development that will prove fundamental in improving the quality-of-life of citizens in the region. With an unparalleled commitment to ICT research & development, an end-to-end portfolio of technology solutions and experience in developing regional mobile broadband networks, Huawei is ideally placed to transform Middle East smart city initiatives with a more sustainable outcome.

The Smart Cities white paper follows another recent IDC report stating that government spending in the Middle East and Africa is set to top $8.27 billion, an 11.4 percent increase as more regional governments expand their mobile government, online services and mobile broadband networks . 

In the Middle East, and particularly in the GCC markets, 3G networks are now nearly universal with 4G (LTE) coverage also expanding quickly. As networks continue to evolve, the region’s smart city initiatives must keep pace with emerging technologies. They must also be prepared to increase network capacity and performance in order to accommodate the expected exponential increase in data traffic, as we move towards the appeal of an ‘anytime, anywhere’ connected culture brought about by mobile broadband technology. 

Safder Nazir, Regional Vice President of Smart Cities & IoT at Huawei, Middle East said: “We recognized the increasing interest in developing smart city initiatives in the region and subsequently formed our ‘Center of Excellence’ to assist governments and telecom operators to realize the ambitions of a sustainable connected future. 

“The world is undergoing a wave of mass urbanization bringing with it inevitable challenges that cities must look to resolve. From increased energy consumption to transportation and security infrastructure, future cities in the Middle East will need to address the urbanization side-effects so they can positively transform the way in which citizens and businesses experience their world.” He added.

Huawei has been engaged in many Smart City initiatives globally and regionally. This is the first time the company has brought together all of this expertise to focus on assisting governments and telecom operators to deliver on Smart City ambitions. Huawei believes that mobile broadband networks are the foundation of a Smart City that needs to be future-orientated and flexible enough to embrace evolving technologies.

The research report maintains that networks will need to be enhanced in order to cope with the future demand for services and increased data traffic impacting the network infrastructure. According to the report, many areas of city operations are already upgrading networks such as transportation, energy management, government services, public safety, education and healthcare as they begin to leverage the benefits of mobile connectivity. 

Paul Black, Director, Telecom Services, MEA & Turkey at IDC said: “The rapid evolution of mobile technology has placed mobile infrastructure center stage in the provision of services for Smart Cities. The foundation of these connected cities is a pervasive level of network connectivity that is used to transmit data, content, applications and services between government workers, citizens, politicians, academia and businesses. While every city can become smarter, putting the right mobile broadband strategy in place is essential for supporting a truly sustainable Smart City initiative.”

A number of Smart City initiatives in the UAE, KSA and Qatar were cited as good examples in the report. They include: The UAE’s Vision 2021 that is moving Dubai forward with a six pillar Smart City initiative; the concept of economic cities in Saudi Arabia that is aligned with objectives of the Economic Vision 2024; and the Greenfield Lusail Smart City project in Qatar that is aligned with the country’s Vision 2030.

Today, Huawei has deployed an extensive range of Mobile Broadband technology including 4G (LTE) across the world for nearly 40 telecom operators in Asia, the Middle East, North America, South America, Western Europe, Russia and Africa. This includes the roll out of a 4G high-speed network on Mount Everest that now gives explorers access to 4G wireless coverage at 5,200 meters above sea level. Huawei is also currently a leading contributor to the development of 5G.

The company has participated in over 60 Smart City projects in more than 20 countries worldwide and cooperates with over 1,100 technology providers and 800 services and system integration firms.