Convergencia Research, Consultoría especializada en Latinoamérica y Caribe
Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The pending agenda for smart cities: new axes of government and NB-IoT accelerated by operators

The evangelization on IoT for Smart Cities in municipal and provincial offices is a past stage. This task was undertaken by business promoters on unlicensed spectrum -LoRa and Sigfox, more than by mobile operators-, who managed to transcend the instance of conversations and are preparing to venture into specific services.

The change of government that took place in Argentina in December last year, and even more, the coronavirus crisis, created a transition stage for Smart Cities initiatives, not only because of the reevaluation of projects that had already been agreed with previous administrations, but because the Undersecretariat of Open Government and Digital Country, in charge of César Gazzo Huck, still defines lines of action. Sources from the agency clarified to Convergencialatina that the new team is reviewing the progress made by Mauricio Macri government and at the beginning of March the definition of axes for management has just begun.

From the company Yeap !, with more than 350 LoRa sites in Argentina, the municipalities' interest in IoT over unlicensed spectrum is based on a cost-efficiency equation: given that the network is already installed, even in sites far from urban centers, It is not necessary to invest in initial Capex, which would be a difficult budget for a local government to approve, and on the other hand, operations of this type do not represent a recurring expense. Until three years ago, municipal and provincial authorities were unaware of the potential of technology, but last year there was already a certain degree of maturity and the discussion is another: how to implement to achieve a more efficient result.

In the case of Grupo Datco, which manages the Sigfox network in the country with some 380 sites and some 50,000 connected devices, the deployment is made based on specific needs, as demand arises, in three sectors: Smart Cities, agro and industry. To accompany these projects, the company also participates in the development of prototypes of specific devices, facing import difficulties for equipment from certain industrial verticals.

Unlike telcos, companies that develop IoT in unlicensed spectrum have a "business gym" characterized by high volume and low price, which would not make sense in the accounts of operators, but yes, in energy efficiency initiatives of municipal governments (for example, a premium package of 140 messages a day sent from a sensor connected to Sigfox with a cost of only US$10 a year).

The landing of Narrow-Band IoT and LTE-M from the hand of the telcos can break into this scenario, expanding the technological offer for government entities, although with still uncertain results. These technologies are expected to gain volume in the country in 2020, after a certain delay in their local development: Movistar has them available in AMBA, with proofs of concept especially in Smart Metering; Telecom tested NB-IoT as part of its "end-to-end" integrator profile for smart cities; and Claro is in the process of installing NB-IoT, for which it has already seen demand for new projects.

Security. The most used Smart Cities application in Argentina is video surveillance and its connection with emergency care centers, 911 and security forces. The segment is today in the evolution phase from video surveillance to image analytics. As Pablo Orsei, general manager of Motorola Solutions, explained to Convergencialatina, artificial intelligence becomes a key factor so that the deployment of cameras does not serve only to transmit image changes: after all, a person cannot track more than 18 monitoring in a period of 50 minutes. Video control and monitoring software, added to applied AI, are key factors in adding to camera deployments in the country, in order to reduce response time.

Lighting. Smart Cities projects do not usually require large budget lines, but rather political will. The exception to the rule is in the luminaires: currently the decision faced by the municipalities is to leave behind the yellow sodium vapor lighting and switch to LEDs, which is suitable for remote management. The city of Buenos Aires has 140 hubs remotely managed by Smartmation and Claro, from where some 60,000 nodes or luminaires are administered to measure operating parameters, perform on and off, activate alarms or prepare a heat map and anticipate transformer failures. Guido Justo, Commercial Director of the firm, announced that by the end of 2020 they will have a 100% NB-IoT board controller ready, which could reduce costs. In addition to the Buenos Aires implementation, Smartmation remotely manages 16 concentrators in Rosario, one in the Central Market, and they are in the process of reviewing nodes installed in Avellaneda.

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