A number of planned communities being built with connectivity at their core are leading the local race toward being truly integrated smart cities – but they won’t be in Johannesburg or Cape Town says Vox Telecoms CEO, Jacques du Toit.
Speaking to BusinessTech, du Toit noted that while these communities are already on the rise in the country, there is a major problem with the legacy of built areas such as Cape Town and Johannesburg which are now using closed systems that aren’t designed to connect or communicate with each other.
He noted that instead of this “siloed approach” to city management, Vox and a number of developers around the country had instead begun at the development stage – to ensure new developments are built with connectivity in mind from the very start.
“With a 100Mbps broadband link and WiFi connectivity from day one, each home in one of these planned communities has the potential to be a smart home, with built-in security and entertainment being just the start.”
“This is then extended onto the broader community – technology can be used by authorities to better manage the use of street lights, the collection of waste, and to cut down on water wastage, while residents can find parking more easily.”
Source: Business Tech
