A pilot project has been under development to transform the city of Águas de São Pedro, a small municipality with about 3,000 citizens located 187 kilometers from São Paulo, into a digital-driven smart city. The pilot is a partnership between the city government and Telefónica Vivo, which has along with partners such as Huawei implemented several solutions to modernize the telecommunications network and deployed smart solutions in the areas of health, education, security and tourism.
Almost two years after the project began, the city has implemented several technological features, including 500 parking spaces that now have sensors that indicate if the space is taken. The sensors are integrated into a mobile application called “Onde Parar” (where to park). Residents can check before they venture into the area if there’s available space to park, potentially reducing traffic jams and CO2 emissions.
Located in nine strategic areas, 15 surveillance cameras provided by Huawei, monitor the city, which is very small at only 5.54 square kilometers. The equipment stores the videos for three months.
“We record some streets and if a vehicle makes a forbidden move the camera focalizes its license number,” Secretary of Tourism Fabio Pontes said. 
The city is also registering residents’ biometric data. The goal is to replace paperwork with digital medical histories and to use fingerprints to check identity. Once the project advances, people will be able to schedule medical appointments via the Internet.
Other mobile applications were developed to facilitate communication between the public government and locals. Citizens can report a problem or make a request using an app. In the education department, schools are connected with broadband Internet services and students receive tablets to use in the classroom.
The town’s main boulevard is equipped with smart LED lighting provided by Ericsson that allows the city to control the intensity of the street lighting. According to Pontes, remote dimming of street lamps on empty streets led to a 35% reduction in electricity costs in the area. Lights can also send a message to a local manager when they are close to expiring.
As for telecom services, Telefónica Vivo updated the city’s network to provide fixed broadband up to 25 megabits per second (compared to a maximum of 10 mbps provided earlier) and covered the city with LTE services.
Many smart city things still need to be done
Although a lot was done in order to adapt Águas de São Paulo into a smart city, more could be done to put it on the same level as other cities in the world that have turned digital.
Currently, Telefónica Vivo’s fixed broadband offerings reach only 40% of the city. In addition, the fiber optic networks don’t cover the whole city. The fiber was deployed to only connect multiservice access node cabinets provided by Huawei and installed in five locations. In addition, IP-based security cameras lack intelligence to detect, for instance, a suspect walking in the streets and aren’t integrated with the policy system.
Águas de São Pedro doesn’t have a precise measurement of air quality and ozone levels to ensure they are keeping safe levels, nor does the city have a smart garbage bin system that bases collection on whether bins are full, thereby minimizing needless trips by municipal workers.
Although initial plans were to install Wi-Fi hot spots to deliver free broadband Internet access, the move has not been made and Pontes said there’s no projection for when it will be ready.
Another project that was featured in the initial plan is the installation of digital panels in strategic locations to inform tourists about the town’s main attractions, maps, timetables and other information. A mobile app was also expected to be developed to gather information about restaurants, hotels, parks and times of operation.
“We prioritized the improvements in the education, security and health areas,” Pontes said.
According to the tourism secretary, negotiations have been conducted with a European company to provide broadband Wi-Fi hot spots, outdoor digital signs and smart trash bins under a similar partnership the government has today with the private sector.
No investment made by city hall
The city didn’t spend money to turn digital. The main investment was made by Telefónica Vivo, which spent R$2 million ($576,000) on the project. The other partners, such as Huawei, also made investments, but didn’t disclose the amount they spent to build the infrastructure. The goal for all companies involved was to make Águas de São Pedro a showroom and bring other public governments to demonstrate the technology.
“For us, it’s important to show the solutions we have to build smart cities,” noted Eduardo Koki Iha, smart cities and innovations for the “Internet of Things” at Telefónica Vivo. For instance, with Vitoria, the capital of Espírito Santo state, the telco is in negotiations to sell smart lighting and public Wi-Fi. “We are discussing with [the] city mayor to incorporate some of the digital concepts,” Iha said.
Since the beginning of this project, Telefónica Vivo increased the number of its subscribers in the city by 16% and new customers are buying a higher Internet speed (6.1 Mbps) than the older clients. The new, fiber-based network contributed to a 23% reduction in electricity costs for the telecom operator.
Looking ahead, the components partners have deployed – cameras, smart lighting and telecom infrastructure – will remain in the city. Future investment by the private sector cannot be predicted. Iha told RCR Wireless News the carrier’s plan was to pursue a two-year project focused on building a pilot to show the telecom operator’s smart city solutions.
Iha avoided predicting if Telefónica Vivo would be willing to make further investments in the project.
“Our goal was to expose what we are able to provide,” Iha said. “The investment was worth [it] and the cost to [maintain everything] working is absorbed by our operations.” He also said that the partnership with the government has no fixed end time, but it must be win-win for all parties involved. Huawei didn’t comment on upcoming developments or enhancements.
European experience
Before deploying the pilot in Águas de São Paulo, Telefónica had previous experience in transforming the Spanish city of Santander into a smart city. The telecom group formed a consortium of 25 partners from across Europe and Australia to turn Santander into a living experimental laboratory. More than 12,000 sensors were deployed around the city to measure variables from light and pressure to humidity and temperature. The work began in September 2010, and the installations were completed in October 2013.
Telefónica said it used its big data platform to extract intelligence, allowing the data to be analyzed and observed in real time by council employees. This kind of analysis is not present in the Brazilian city.
Barcelona is another example of a digital and smart city. The Spanish city has deployed sensors that use a mobile application to tell where parking spaces are available. It has used paints that absorb the CO2 emitted by traffic and there are homes fitted with sensors that detect possible water and gas leaks, as well as a lack of movement. If any anomalous situation is detected, social services is able to contact the service’s user. Barcelona’s Paral·lel has smart lighting that can reduce electricity consumption by 30%.
Under Huawei’s definition, the smart city’s concept is defined by the construction of telecom infrastructure to run smart services in the areas of government, public security, education, health and utilities. Smart city solutions aim to provide municipal governments with a real-time view of key city metrics, enabling it to make planning decisions. Also, they focuses on improving the quality of life of citizens and their experience in interacting with the government and public services.
“It should have large coverage of broadband Internet, mechanisms to share information,” added Anderson Tomaiz, senior manager at Huawei Enterprise.
Editor’s note: Huawei provided travel costs to Águas de São Pedro.
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