Chile needs major smart city investment

Chile needs to invest US$30 billion in telecom infrastructure over the next ten years to boost its potential to develop smart cities, according to Pelayo Covarrubias, board president of digital development organisation País Digital. During a seminar on smart cities, Covarrubias said Chile had invested US$15 billion in telecom infrastructure in the last decade. The estimated investment for the next decade is the minimum Chile would need to spend just to be able to keep up with other high-ranking digital citi
September 5, 2014 Read time: 3 mins

Chile needs to invest US$30 billion in telecom infrastructure over the next ten years to boost its potential to develop smart cities, according to Pelayo Covarrubias, board president of digital development organisation País Digital.

During a seminar on smart cities, Covarrubias said Chile had invested US$15 billion in telecom infrastructure in the last decade. The estimated investment for the next decade is the minimum Chile would need to spend just to be able to keep up with other high-ranking digital cities worldwide, he added.

According to Covarrubias, investment per capita, per year in telecom infrastructure is currently around US$125. That has to increase to US$225.

Getting the infrastructure in place is the country's first priority. Then it would be in a position to introduce new digital services that fit with the new trends in technology, namely, cloud computing, M2M, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The third step is to develop concrete projects such as in the area of health care, where a patient's health record could be accessible on a smartphone to show at a doctor's appointment.

According to Covarrubias, 60 per cent of Chilean internet users have internet only in their homes and do not have mobile internet. In order to implement many projects required for a smart city, almost 100 per cent mobile broadband access would be needed.

In July, Latin American energy holding company Enersis unveiled a project, Smartcity Santiago, to study the role technology could play in urban development in Chile, which involves an investment of US$10 million.

In the same month, ICT association ACTI's president Carlos Busso said that in the next two years, Chile needs to double its 6,000 systems engineers and ICT technicians graduating yearly from universities in order to become a competitive ICT force in Latin America.

Meanwhile, Chile's public works ministry plans to launch a tender to build a cable car system in the capital, Santiago, in the second half of 2015.

Construction of the US$76 million project is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2016 and last two years. The 3.4 kilometre cable car system will connect Ciudad Empresarial in northern Santiago with the Tobalaba metro station located in the Sanhattan financial centre. The project will include three stations and 146 cable cars, each with capacity of ten people. It is expected to transport 3,000 passengers per hour.

The tender has been delayed several times. The initiative has recently gained momentum as the government aims to speed up infrastructure projects to boost a weakening economy.

Related Content

  • April 22, 2014
    Latin America projected to invest in metro systems
    Latin American countries are expected to invest some US$40 billion in metro projects by 2025, according to a report from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). "In total, they will build or expand more than US$40bn in 20 projects," stated the report entitled Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025. The report, Latin America and the Caribbean 2015, indicates that some of the projects include construction of line 3 and line 6 in Chilean capital Santiago's subway, expansion of Brazil's São Paulo met
    Read More
  • March 27, 2014
    IEEE Smart Cities Initiative
    The United Nations predicts a near doubling of city dwellers by 2050 and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is inviting municipalities preparing for an increase in urban residents to join its Smart Cities Initiative. A municipality selected for the Initiative will have the opportunity to work with a team of IEEE experts who will collaborate with members of the public, private and volunteer sectors to explore the issues and address what’s needed to prepare for ever-increasing urb
    Read More
  • February 13, 2015
    New Mexico City airport 'the most advanced worldwide'
    The new international airport being built in Mexico City is "probably the most advanced modern airport project worldwide," Dr Bernardo Lisker, international director of The Mitre Corporation, has said. "This is an enormously important project for Mexico, without which the nation's economy would suffer a bottleneck very soon," said Lisker, who will be discussing the technical vision of the airport at BNamericas' Mexico Infrastructure Summit taking place 18–19 February. "Building the new airport in the
    Read More
  • June 29, 2016
    New research finds huge sustainability benefits from new urban mobility models
    New research by UK communications technology specialist BT and Frost & Sullivan finds that new urban mobility models such as ride-sharing, smart parking technologies and ride-on-demand could reduce the amount of cars needed on urban roads globally by up to 20 million vehicles per year in 2025, offering huge sustainability benefits and an improved experience for travellers. The research, Environmentally Sustainable Innovation in Automotive Manufacturing and Urban Mobility, suggests that consumer trends t
    Read More

Highlighted Content