Australia to spend millions making its cities smarter

Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal government, which won the federal election last month, has revealed a Smart Cities and Suburbs Program, with the intention of bringing local councils and tech firms to the table.

The $50 million program calls for local councils to implement smart city technology to improve cities and suburbs. Federal funds will back part of the project; private and local funding will pay for the rest.

It will host a series of public-private roundtable sessions next month that attempt to establish contracts between councils and companies.

“The Smart Cities and Suburbs Program is to support clever technology ideas to fix difficult or long standing community issues,” said the Assistant Minister for Cities, Angus Taylor, at the Future Cities Summit. “The most valuable projects will be transformative collaborations between multiple councils and technology industry partners that link closely with future plans for the area.”

The federal government is looking for projects that enhance the security, livability, and sustainability of cities. Projects that look to reduce the local council costs would also be considered, as the Liberal government looks to reduce the budget deficit.

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has already shown interest in building Internet of Things (IoT) platforms in Australian cities. It launched a trial of its smart sewage platform in Victoria a few months ago, in partnership with Vodafone.

Australia announcement looks familiar

Australia is not the first country to bring cities and companies together. In the U.S., the Department of Transportation (DOT) recently ran a Smart City Challenge, which offered $40 million (plus $10 million from Paul Allen’s Vulcan) to the city with the most compelling manifesto.

Columbus, Ohio won, but many of the finalists like Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, California said that private investment reached over $20 million. Some of the cities plan to continue to the public-private projects, while others have said they plan to be more open to tech experts and firms in the future.

Australia’s government should be hoping for a similar outcome, even if the program isn’t winner takes all.

Vodafone launches unlimited calling plan starting at Rs 1,699

KOLKATA: Vodafone India, the country's second-largest carrier, started offering unlimited voice calls and roaming on two high-value postpaid packs to hold on to its higher revenue paying customers ahead of Reliance Jio Infocomm's much awaited commercial launch of 4G services.


Vodafone's move comes less than a fortnight after No 1 carrier, Bharti Airtel launched free and unlimited voice calls to ringfence its top revenue generating customers.

On Thursday, Vodafone India launched two new postpaid packs under its 'Red series', priced at Rs 1699 and Rs 1999, offering unlimited voice calls bundled with 6GB and 8GB of 3G/4G data respectively.

Those opting for the Rs 1999 plan will also enjoy unlimited roaming both for incoming and outgoing calls, while those on the Rs 1699 plan will enjoy
free roaming for incoming calls, and pay 0.50/minute for outgoing calls while roaming.

After Airtel and Idea, now Vodafone cuts internet rates

"With the new Vodafone Red plans, there is no more holding back. We are offering our postpaid customers an all-in-one plan that addresses their roaming, data and voice needs comprehensively," Sandeep Kataria, director (commercial) at Vodafone India, said in an official statement.

Vodafone India has also launched a string of entry level postpaid packs under its 'Red series' priced to boost data consumption levels at the low and middle end of the market. More so, since, postpaid subscribers tend to be stickier than prepaid users.

The new entry-level postpaid packs priced at Rs 499, 699 and Rs 999 offer 700 minutes, 1000 minutes and 2000 minutes of voice calls bundled with 1GB, 2GB and 3GB of 3G/4G data.

Vodafone India's move comes after the telco reported slower data revenue growth in the April-June quarter, which pulled down its top line during the period by 3.4% to Rs 13,500 crore.

Vodafone's unlimited voice calls offer on the heels of Airtel's comes shortly afterReliance Industries said in its annual report that its telecom arm Jio would commercially launch its 4G services at "substantially lower" rates than incumbent carriers.

Once Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio goes commercial, it is slated to cause a massive disruption in both data and voice pricing, that could culminate in another round of blood-letting in an already fiercely competitive sector. Analysts, in fact, expect Jio to shortly offering free voice services bundled with data, priced at least 25% lower than current offerings of top rivals.

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