Qualcomm flags smart city hurdles

INTERVIEW: Qualcomm global head of smart cities Sanjeet Pandit (pictured) hailed growing momentum in deployments, but spotlighted three key hurdles hindering municipalities’ progress.

Pandit told Mobile World Live the first problem many cities face is deciding “where do you start and where do you end”, along with how to prioritise services.

He explained there is no single approach, with answers to the questions varying between cities: “Some have a retirement community, some have a young vibrant community, so their needs are different”.

Another challenge is working out how to implement new services while respecting legacy systems. Pandit noted this requires “a lot of regression testing and a lot of back end integration”.

Funding is “always going to be a challenge”, because cities must balance allocation of limited budgets between connected services and other community needs.

Public-private partnerships offer one solution, with revenue sharing schemes offering the potential to provide a “self-sustaining model” which can ultimately see projects pay for themselves, Pandit explained.