Comm. Smart Cities and IoT supplement Smart Cities and IoT | Seite 23

Smart views Telcos could become the future ‘town square’ – a meeting place for people to co-create and innovate It is easy to see why there are parties who support the vision of telcos as connectivity providers – this is, after all, the bread and butter of the industry. This view would see operators scaling up their current services to achieve economies of scale, thereby potentially growing their bottom line. Incidentally, this is also the view that frightens telcos the most. In such a scenario, telcos would be relegated to simply becoming providers of data rather than being impactful agents in society. Additionally, we are seeing increased competition from network providers that are building their own proprietary networks to provide data connectivity. A growing number of industry watchers argue that telcos should become solution providers. This entails creating end-to-end enterprise solutions and networks that connect people and organisations. On the surface, operators can redefine their role in society and move further along the value-chain, thereby creating new revenue streams. Digging deeper, however, we see this would be a dangerous route for telcos to take. Managing the infrastructure network would require telcos to develop, offer, operate, and maintain capabilities about infrastructure that lie far outside their core expertise. Fortunately, the future of smart city development will create a new role that will need to be filled – that of the integrator. In this manner, telcos could become the future ‘town square’ – a meeting place for people to co-create and innovate. It is here where we see the future of telcos. Given that smart cities will involve different players from countless industries, managing all of the parties will become a task in its own right. Telcos could serve as the nexus of all 21 major stakeholders providing a unified and holistic integration of multiple sectors. To achieve this, telcos will need to form deep partnerships with the major players involved in smart cities. What makes GCC telcos optimally positioned for this role is their close relationship with their respective governments, which can empower telcos to oversee the integration of the numerous components in a smart city. There has never been a more exciting time to be part of the telco sector. The advent of smart cities opens many doors for an industry looking to diversify revenue streams. It is essential that operators move strategically to secure a strong foothold in their geographies. What happens in the coming years will likely lay the foundations for the future of operators in a more connected and prosperous society. The time to act – and integrate – is now.