At TM Forum’s
Smart City InFocus event in Yinchuan,
China (September 11-13) Karan Henrik Ponnudurai, Chief Innovation and
Digital Service Officer, Celcom (Malaysia), will deliver a presentation on the
role of operators in developing the payment and transport infrastructure for
smart cities. We caught up with him in advance to preview the session.
Q: What opportunities do smart cities offer
for operators?
A:
Operators are an important part of the ecosystem for smart cities as they have
an existing communications infrastructure that is a necessary (but not
sufficient) component of smart cities. They will need to work with many other
players in order for a smart city initiative to come to fruition, but from an
operator perspective there is an opportunity to be the facilitator and mediator
between the different parties.
Q: Why are they so well placed to meet the
needs of smart cities?
A: Apart
from the necessary communications infrastructure, operators generally have
trustable brands and retail points that can be leveraged by smart cities. There
are also some operators who are well advanced in developing payment and
e-commerce platforms that are a vital part of the smart city program.
Q: Can you share any examples of
success/experience?
A: Celcom
Axiata has embarked on an aggressive digital program that encompasses several
of these, and we are in the process of integrating some of these components for
specific national and city-wide programs.
Q: What are the challenges for operators of
capitalizing on the opportunities of smart cities?
A: Building
alliances and interconnecting the partners is a necessary challenge for all
parts of the ecosystems – in particular operators, who have been so successful
working alone and now have to be a collaborator.
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