Telekom Romania announces the successful implementation of the first integrated Smart City project in Romania, in Tineretului Park, Children’s City Area, in the 4th district of Bucharest. Based on cutting edge technologies, the Smart City pilot project was implemented by Telekom Romania with the support of its technology partner Cisco for the 4th District City Hall. It will help ensure a better and safer experience for the Capital’s inhabitants while spending their time in one of the most popular parks in Bucharest, due to the diversity of available leisure activities. “We are proud to be the first telecom operator in Romania to implement such an innovative project. We moved from concepts and plans to real solutions, to the benefit of Bucharest inhabitants who will definitely enjoy a more pleasant, relaxing experience and in safer conditions when spending their time in the park. The project also brings benefits to the local authorities who will be able to manage the public areas more efficiently and at lower costs. Through these cutting edge smart city solutions, developed with the support of our partners and Deutsche Telekom Group, Telekom is consistent to its mission of digitalizing the Romanian business and society and also is strengthening its position as IT&C integrated solutions provider”, said Ovidiu Ghiman, Chief Commercial Office, Business Segment, Telekom Romania.
Ralf Nejedl, Senior Vice President B2B & ICT at Deutsche Telekom, added: “We are currently undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history. More than half of the world’s population now lives in towns and cities, and by 2030 this number will increase to about 5 billion. It is no wonder that today’s cities face tremendous challenges – from rising populations and shrinking budgets to the need to economize on the use of resources. Deutsche Telekom Group, as an information and telecommunications company, provides efficient support in the evolution of urban environments by enhancing public services such as traffic and urban mobility planning. We are very active across Europe, and are happy that Bucharest has now become another leading smart city in our European footprint.”
The project was developed with the technology partner Cisco, which provided the equipment and the integration platform. In this quality, Dorin Pena, Country Manager of Cisco Romania, commented that “For a Smart City project to be successful, it needs to address the needs of a specific city, district or community with the help of technology. Thanks to the partnership with Bucharest and the 4th district in particular, we could define these specific needs and develop relevant solutions in partnership with Telekom.”
As beneficiary of the project, Daniel Băluță, the Mayor of the 4th District, said: “I am very glad that Telekom Romania, part of Deutsche Telekom, selected a park in the 4th district of Bucharest as a pilot for this project. This means the inhabitants of the 4th district are the first to enjoy the benefits of a Smart City. This partnership is a project for future, which I am convinced will lead the cities across the world to a superior level of development.”
The solutions implemented by Telekom Romania in a designated area of Tineretului Park consists of four integrated components: Smart Parking, Wi-Fi connectivity, City Safety and Smart Lighting. The Smart Parking solution has been already delivered by Deutsche Telekom in the Italian city of Pisa, where it has been implemented with the support of Kiunsys. By using the Tap &Park mobile application [demo video], now available for IoS and soon on, Android and Windows mobile, a driver will identify in real time whether there are available parking spaces near the designated area in Children’s City zone in Tineretului Park.
The solution has a module dedicated to the local authority or parking administration that gives visibility on the parking space occupancy and level of traffic in the area and which can generate various reports..
In the future, the app will be developed to include more parking areas in Bucharest. Also, a new upcoming feature will allow drivers to pay the parking fee through their mobile phone, directly to the local authority or parking operators, without any additional costs. The parking solution will be extended to also include notifications announcing drivers when their parking time expires.
The Wi-Fi solution enables visitors of the park to enjoy Internet access free of charge in a designated area. It can be extended to include data analytics features providing the local authorities with a monitoring tool of the traffic, with peaks and lows, based on which security services in the area can be managed more efficiently. In addition, other public facilities can be introduced or re-arranged to better serve the real needs of the citizens.
The City Safety solution involves a video surveillance system and an application based on which certain pre-defined scenarios which request the intervention of the authorities can be identified. The solution allows alerts in case of vandalism or trespassing restricted areas or in case a person is in the situation of requiring immediate help. Another benefit of the solution is the possibility to identify illegally parked cars [demo video].The solution can be also used for car counting and license plate identification [demo video].
The Smart Lighting solution was deployed on eight poles equipped with LED lights and controllers sensitive to movement and ambient light intensity. They can be controlled remotely or automatically to increase the light intensity whenever somebody is close to them. The implementation of this solution results in a decrease of energy costs by up to 60%, a significant benefit for local authorities.
The Smart City solutions implemented in 4th District operate on a dedicated Internet of Things (IoT) platform. IoT enables the connection of various objects and platforms to the Internet and their “smart” communication, by means of intelligent interfaces. The interconnectivity of devices and sensors with the data bases and control panels is made with the aid of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions. M2M solutions represent one of the strategic directions of Deutsche Telekom, being present in the portfolios of all countries within the Group. In Romania, Telekom has eight M2M solutions in its portfolio and benefits from the access to the most advanced technology platforms developed by the research and development divisions of the Group.
Through this project, Telekom and Cisco are introducing in Romania solutions for the city of the future that will make citizens’ lives easier and safer. At the same time, these solutions are helping local administrations to be more efficient and to reduce operational costs.
Deutsche Telekom’s Smart City approach
Deutsche Telekom sees a smart city as an ecosystem enabled by a more efficient administration of public services through ICT-based solutions, ultimately increasing the quality of life for its citizens, attracting visitors and supporting the economic development. Building on its expertise in operating, managing and advancing large communication infrastructures across a European footprint, a leading position in the M2M sector and its IT integration capabilities, Deutsche Telekom aims at putting the pieces of this complex smart city ecosystem together.
