Croatian Telekom Opens First Smart Street in Croatia in Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik has become T-City, the first innovative, testing, and reference Smart City center of Croatian Telekom. In addition to being a leader in technological innovations, HT clearly positions itself as a leader in long-term social changes.

This week has been extremely important for Dubrovnik, its citizens, and the growing number of tourists visiting this historic city. Dubrovnik signed a cooperation agreement with Croatian Telekom as part of its candidacy for the title of European Capital of Culture 2020, thus gaining a technological partner in projects that are changing the future of the city. The first such pilot project is ‘Dubrovnik Smart Street’ on Obala Stjepana Radića, the smartest street in Croatia and the region, which was officially opened on Monday and introduces multiple connected information and communication solutions that enhance the quality of life in the city. Dubrovnik has thus become T-City, the first innovative, testing, and reference Smart City center of Croatian Telekom, and the pilot project was realized in strategic partnership with CISCO and in collaboration with local partners.

Leaders of Change

The smart street in Dubrovnik is a pilot project worth over 1.5 million kuna and part of the broader ‘Dubrovnik Smart City’ project. The increasing need for savings in local budgets, growing mobility of citizens, climate change, and overall digitalization are some of the key factors driving the growing interest in creating smart cities, both globally and in Croatia. The term ‘smart city’ refers to the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) for more efficient functioning of urban services, for the benefit of citizens and visitors. There are three reasons why cities should move towards smart: environmental care, improvement of citizens’ quality of life, and savings.

– Dubrovnik is a world tourist gem, a unique city-museum, and with the ‘Dubrovnik Smart City’ project and Croatian Telekom as the technological leader of the project, it is becoming a city of the future. We will proudly bring domestic and foreign partners to present technological innovations and solutions that, when interconnected, change the culture of living and improve the quality of life for citizens. With this breakthrough in business, we want to show that HT is not only a technological leader but also a leader in social changes in Croatia – emphasized Davor Tomašković, CEO of Croatian Telekom, at the opening.

IP Migration

Croatian Telekom is the third telecom in Europe to successfully complete the IP migration project, thereby achieving essential infrastructural prerequisites for the introduction of smart solutions and further development. The services of the smart street in Dubrovnik are based on CISCO’s digital platform, which is open, upgradable, and secure, and also offers the possibility of integrating various solutions and applications. The smart street will thus have public lighting with a multifunctional sensor network along with various access technologies, from optical links and 4G networks to Wi-Fi networks, thanks to which citizens and visitors in that street have free high-speed and high-capacity wireless internet access (50 Mbit/s). The Wi-Fi network consists of Cisco Aironet access points, and in combination with increased use of sensors and digital devices, it enables the creation of smart urban infrastructure.

The lighting was developed in collaboration with Zumtobel, and it is characterized by efficiency, as it consists of LED lighting fixtures that are more cost-effective to maintain and last longer. However, the uniqueness lies in the fact that the lighting fixtures are connected to a special module that controls the operation of the lamp, reads environmental data, and communicates in real-time with a special application.

Connected Solutions

The introduced traffic solution uses cameras to recognize traffic violations, and for the first time in the world, innovative parking technology has been installed in the street, which automatically recognizes vehicles and charges parking contactlessly, and which will inform drivers in real-time about occupied parking spaces in the smart street, as well as throughout Dubrovnik, via smartphone applications and digital panels. An important part of the connected solutions in the street is the monitoring and control of the environment, which will provide very useful information that we could not even comprehend before. By connecting individual smart solutions with existing city systems, the Cisco City Digital platform is the core of the smart city’s communication system, and it will also enable the openness of all collected data for the development of new solutions.

– The smart solutions applied in this street directly address everyday problems of citizens, such as traffic congestion and searching for parking spaces, which enhances the quality of life in Dubrovnik, while achieving energy and financial savings for the City. We continue to work on the comprehensive ‘Dubrovnik Smart City’ project, in strategic collaboration with Croatian Telekom, to expand smart solutions throughout the entire city – stated Dubrovnik Mayor Andro Vlahušić at the opening.

Other partners of Croatian Telekom on the project include Combis, Sensity, Zumtobel, RAO, Mobilisis, SmartSense, Elektroteam, and many others, and HT continuously expands its network of partners, including renowned domestic companies and startups that can contribute significantly to the development of this technological framework.