Comm. Smart Cities and IoT supplement Smart Cities and IoT | Seite 29

smart views
However, a number of challenges stop
this from being a completely smooth
ride for telcos. An important issue in the
Arab world is the nature of the mind-set
of customers. Customers in the region,
especially in less developed countries,
have consumption habits that might prove
difficult to change, and operators may
need to place extra emphasis on trying to
incorporate new usage patterns into the
“comfort zone” style that has been widely
adopted across the region.
In a number of countries in the Arab
world, e-services, be they e-government,
e-banking, or e-commerce solutions, have

had little effect on the ground in shortening
queues and providing a seamless experience for people. This is mainly due to the
fact that a large percentage of people,
especially in the age group over 45 years,
find it more convenient and more reliable
to accomplish their tasks the traditional
way, even if this means queuing or going
all the way to the offices of the entity in
question.
Another challenge shared by the telcos
is the awareness of such IoT or smart city
solutions. While the responsibility to raise
public awareness of the available services
lies with both the IoT/smart city providers

and telcos, operators need to recognise
that the public’s coming to know of such
solutions would actually translate into
additional revenues for the ecosystem,
adding value to services that are already
being offered.
In a nutshell, IoT is a tide that will
change the way people go about their
daily lives, and it won’t be long before connected devices become the new standard,
while traditional devices become obsolete.
The opportunity presented to telcos is for
them to generate a new income stream
and benefit from the exponential growth of
a myriad of connected devices.

By mid-2014, 14 operators in the
region had begun offering tracking
services as part of their portfolio, while
three had started providing surveillance
and security services. Additionally, there
were 19 operators that offered dedicated
M2M SIM cards to their customers

In some countries, e-services, be they e-government,
e-banking, or e-commerce solutions, have had little effect on
the ground in shortening queues and providing a seamless
experience for people

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