[Via Satellite 06-03-2016] Lower cost connectivity is enabling cities around the world to go \u201csmart,\u201d and Venezuela-based Vikua <\/b>is one of the companies leading the charge in creating the smart solutions for these cities. The company is one of Latin America\u2019s high profile startups, which made its foray into smart city development five years ago by developing software that allowed local and city governments to manage traffic light infrastructure from a control center and adapt the timing of lights based on available traffic information. Vikua deployed this service in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, resulting in a 23 percent reduction in travel times within specific parts of the city, according to the company.<\/p>\n
From this success, Vikua expanded into public transportation management solutions, security, road safety and more. Five other cities in Venezuela now use the company\u2019s smart solutions, along with two in Ecuador, one in Panama, Bolivia, a state in Mexico, and the national governments of Venezuela and Mexico. In an interview with Via Satellite<\/i>, Vikua Co-founder and Commercial Director Juan Jos\u00e9 Pocaterra Mendoza described the company as being past its startup days, but still young overall. He sees a large, trillion-plus dollar global market, of which connectivity will play a major role.<\/p>\n
Pocaterra expects to see a lot of rising smart cities that today are small or medium sized, with populations between 300,000 and 3 million people. Based on predictions for population shifts, he said emerging markets could easily become homes to the most future smart cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the year 2050 you are going to have 60 to 70 percent of the world living in cities, but at the same time, paradoxically enough, where that is going to happen a lot more is in the emerging markets. You have Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia \u2014 in those markets right now and in 2050 you are going to have even more than 80 percent of the population living in cities. That means that in emerging markets, the smaller cities that are having the fastest growth are the ones that are going to concentrate the new projects, new efforts, and new investments that we are going to see over the coming years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pocaterra said roughly 80 percent of the cities in Latin America fall into this category; however, many of them have severe budget restrictions. Expensive connectivity solutions can be a barrier, which is why Pocaterra said Vikua\u2019s decision to focus on using Wi-Fi and 3G\/4G cellular coverage became a quick competitive advantage over those using things like fiber optic.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs connectivity advances, more cities will become early adopters of these types of technologies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Given the demand for connectivity, there is potential for satellite to carve a space in the smart city market, though currently it is second or even third fiddle to other alternatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cCellular coverage tends to be pretty good in cities and other kinds of networks,\u201d Jeremy Green, principal analyst at Machina Research<\/b>, told Via Satellite<\/i>. \u201cSatellite, in my experience, tends to be the network of last resort.\u201d<\/p>\n