By Levien de Feijter
AMSTERDAM--Royal Philips N.V. (PHIA.AE) and Ericsson (ERIC) will
team up to develop street lighting that combines LED lighting with
mobile broadband connectivity in a move designed to capitalize on
rapidly growing city populations and an increasing demand for
mobile data traffic and energy-efficient lighting.
The new lighting model creates a "a win-win-win situation for
cities, operators and the public," Philips' Chief Executive Frans
van Houten said, adding that the energy-efficient LED lighting will
help bring down energy costs. Public lighting is responsible for up
to half of a city's electricity bill, according to Philips.
To accelerate the payback time up of costs for installing and
managing the systems, cities can rent the street lights to mobile
operators working with Ericsson. Philips also offers cities the
option to pay the Amsterdam-based company out of the energy
savings.
Mobile network operators will be able to improve data coverage
for citizens, said Ericsson President and Chief Executive Hans
Vestberg.
The product, which was trialed last year, will be presented at
the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which starts later
Monday.
Write to Levien de Feijter at levien.defeijter@wsj.com
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