Page 37 - International Standards to Shape Smart Sustainable Cities: The Case of Moscow

Implementing ITU-T International Standards to shape Smart Sustainable Cities - The case of Moscow

some of the key initiatives associated with improving its economic and innovative capabilities
based on the findings from the U4SSC KPIs.

Connectivity

The Moscow City Government has made significant investments, in order to provide its
inhabitants with free Wi-Fi access across the city’s streets, parks and other public and pedestrian
areas. This includes close to 18 800 public Wi-Fi hotspots all over the city, more than 2 000 of
which are located inside the Garden Ring and in Moscow’s parks.

Internet can also be accessed within Moscow’s public transport systems. The network covers
the metro, the Moscow Central Circular (MCC), the Aeroexpress trains to airports, as well as
Moscow’s buses, trams and trolleybuses. Coverage and access are seamless. There is no need
for users to re-authorise when changing from one mode of transport to another.
In the summer of 2017, Moscow’s wireless service providers installed more than 1 000 4G base
stations around the city. This helped eliminate any black spots where the high-speed service had
not been available before, seamlessly covering the entire area of Moscow within the limits of
the Moscow Automobile Ring road (MKAD). Ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, further mobile
network upgrades were made which helped lay the foundations for future 5G connectivity in
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the city. 1 300 new cell towers, 55 mobile cell sites and 25 km of fibre were installed to keep

spectators connected.
According to the IT Department, there are a total of more than 50 000 base stations in Moscow.
The City Government has simplified the procedure for establishing base stations in non-
residential areas, where the majority of base stations, or 75 percent, are located. 44

Moscow is also among the top ten cities for fixed line broadband speed, which is on average
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35 MB per second.
Provision of such increased access to the internet at little or no cost empowers citizens and
promotes the use of e-services without the burden of network costs. Notably, it helps to create
a positive example for other developing cities towards the fulfillment of one of the United
Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target, namely SDG Target 9.C:
“Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to
provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020.”

Such a high level of connectivity also has positive implications for Moscow’s economic
development and growth. It underscores the inhabitants’ access to new knowledge, open data,
the latest news and communication that can be leveraged for economic productivity, i.e.
training, education, research, business management, the exchange of ideas, and innovation.
Accessible Wi-Fi and internet are the foundations of bringing smart services to citizens.

43 McCaskill (2018)
44 https://www.mos.ru/en/news/item/27053073/

45 https://www.mos.ru/en/news/item/22489073/

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