Taiwanese telco will deploy 5G base stations and smart sensors in streetlights and traffic signals
Taiwanese telecommunications firm Chunghwa Telecom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Taipei city government for the development of smart city applications and internet of things (IoT) infrastructure in Taiwan’s capital.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two parties will collaborate in areas including proof-of-concept (PoC) projects in mobile network integration and applications for smart streetlight, smart city innovative apps experiments and trials, and 5G application demos and trials.
Taipei’s government will allow the installation of base stations, narrowband IoT and various types of smart sensors to promote 5G and IoT development. Under the deal, the telco will be able to install this infrastructure using the city’s existing streetlights and traffic signals.
“Hopefully, this will help the development of application which allows operations such as smart lighting to help reduce carbon emission and energy consumption; traffic and pedestrian flow detection for solving traffic issues; and information feeds for connected vehicles and driverless vehicles, applications that are expected to improve efficiency of city services and to promote commercial and tourism businesses,” said Taipei’s Deputy Mayor Charles Lin.
Chunghwa Telecom said it will employ the IoT platforms developed by the company to introduce key know-how in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and augmented reality (AR).
Asia Pacific Telecom kicks off NB-IoT offering in Taiwan
Also in Taiwan, local telecommunications firm Asia Pacific Telecom (APT) has launched its commercial NB-IoT service, utilizing its GSMA-verified mobile IoT open lab, which supports NB-IoT and eMTC LTE-M technologies.
The operator said the NB-IoT and LTE-M networks run on the 900MHz band.
APT will offer related NB-IoT services free of charge to potential enterprise clients at the initial stage so as to ramp up the number of subscribers for its new mobile services. The Asian telco has secured 2.5 million circuit numbers from Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) for the launch of the NB-IoT offering.
APT said that it will open its NB-IoT networks for personal wearable, IoV, entertainment and medical applications, as well as for public service sectors such as smart meter, smart parking and environmental protection monitoring applications.
APT, which is owned by electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Group (Foxconn), said it expects to generate approximately $6.6 million in revenue in the IoT segment this year.
