Smart City: 5G masters urban challenges of the future

The term Smart City describes a development concept for urban space whose goal is to make cities more progressive, efficient and socially inclusive. In addition to economic and social innovations, technological developments play a decisive role, especially through intelligent networking via mobile communications and new 5G solutions.

The enormous capacities and transmission rates of 5G, combined with modern Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, make it possible for the first time to network millions of devices simultaneously. In smart cities and megacities, 5G will in future help to better coordinate and relax road traffic. With the new mobile communications standard, road users, vehicles and the road infrastructure are intelligently networked and can share positions and destinations in real time. This direct Vehicle-to-X communication (V2X) is fundamental for mobility solutions of the future such as networked or autonomous driving. In addition, traffic lights, for example, can react according to the volume of traffic. In this way, traffic is equalized overall and the potential for traffic jams and accidents is drastically minimized.

For residents, the benefits of an intelligently networked city go far beyond improved road traffic. Even their own household can be linked to the Smart City via 5G. For example, electricity, gas or water consumption can be automatically read off by smart metering and transmitted to the utility company. Telefónica Deutschland is already able to offer numerous companies a modern machine network via the Narrowband IoT and LTE-M network standards in order to realize these possibilities of the Smart City. With 5G this will be possible on an even larger scale. The 5G mobile communications standard will therefore help private individuals, local companies, cities and society as a whole to master the urban challenges of the future and make everyday life easier.