This year, smart connectivity has become a highly discussed topic at MIPIM, the world's leading real estate trade show.
The Baltic cities of Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius have demonstrated how 5G readiness can speed up not only internet, but also enable cities to become smarter and more sustainable.
Baltic countries rank high in OECD mobile internet usage ratings – all three countries are in the top 5. Baltic societies are ideal for testing new connectivity solutions, as they are used to high-speed unlimited mobile data consumption.
Baltic capitals demonstrate their progress in smart city initiatives and their application in real estate. Initiatives range from 5G testbeds, open data availability, to specific policies pertaining to mobility in all cities as well as infrastructure being built for connected and self-driving cars, and drone traffic management. All three countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing to building a 5G-enabled smart road spanning throughout all of the countries.
Riga is developing 5G use cases in cooperation with digital service provider LMT such as smart parking, drone services, and drone traffic management platform, IoT sensors for smart cities and more. The first live 5G network in Riga was demonstrated in September of 2018.
Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, offers a 5G network in the TalTech University, where they are developing an autonomous bus project. The city has launched the 5G network as of December of 2018.
Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, has developed a proptech sandbox – the opportunity to test and pilot projects on more than 2,5M square meters of property being the largest in Europe.