Helping Make Cities Smarter

 

Municipal leaders from across the country are recognizing the promise of smart city projects to improve the quality of life for their residents. Smart cities will use technology to respond, in real time, to ever-changing environments and have a profound impact in areas such as economic development, transportation, utilities, infrastructure, public safety and civic engagement. In a smart community, commutes can be shortened, water and waste management can be more efficient and environmentally friendly, tax payer spending on electricity for streetlights can be reduced, and citizens can more easily engage with their government and its services. A smarter city promises to be a better place for residents to live and work.

 

This week, Spectrum and US Ignite, a non-profit organization seeking to accelerate the smart city movement, announced the selection of St. Petersburg, Florida as a Smart Gigabit Community. Together, Spectrum and US Ignite will launch pilot programs for smart lighting and smart traffic in the St. Petersburg Innovation District. These programs will use real-time monitoring to improve energy efficiency and to enhance pedestrian and biker safety, as well as reduce road congestion.

Spectrum is uniquely positioned to partner with communities to make them smarter. The company has invested more than $32 billion in infrastructure and technology over the past 5 years. The investments have enabled the company to extend and improve hundreds of miles of network infrastructure, launch more than 350,000 WiFi hotspots and offer one gigabit connections (940 Mbps maximum download) to homes and small businesses across virtually our entire footprint. We connect over 50 buildings a day to our fiber network and deliver up to 10 Gbps symmetrical speeds for schools, libraries, hospitals and other community institutions. In addition, with our exploration into innovative wireless access technologies like 5G, Spectrum is working to ensure gigabit speeds to further lay the foundation for delivering a future of connectivity.

In 2018, we began outreach to civic leaders to explore the possibilities of partnering to implement smart city technology.  We are engaging in fantastic conversations with leaders in communities across our 41-state footprint and through partnerships with organizations like US Ignite and cities like St. Petersburg, we are laying the foundation for a brighter and smarter future.