The partnership signed between the Finnish multinational Nokia, the company Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD) and the Egyptian subsidiary of the French telecommunication group Orange concerns the provision of solutions for the digitalization of the New Administrative Capital (NAC) of Egypt. The group led by Pekka Lundmark will provide its AVA services, including its operating and monetization software.
Acud will rely on these technologies to enable NAC residents to order, activate and pay for utilities and data center services. According to Nokia, the AVA solution will enable Acud to “efficiently” manage data center services to businesses, IoT (internet of things) services and wholesale connectivity for residential and business users.
Orange’s contribution
The deployment of its software solutions is part of a Service Provider-as-a-Partner (SPaaP) partnership with Orange Egypt and Orange Business Services. The rollout is expected to be completed in early 2023, says the group, which employs more than 100,0000 people worldwide. “Nokia’s software is complemented by Cerillion’s BSS product suite, which provides an open, standards-based solution coupled with its highly experienced delivery team for this complex retail and wholesale solution,” Nokia says.
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“Our vision is to build a smart city for a smarter future in the new capital,” says Khaled Abbas, Acud’s president and CEO. Also known as Al Masa and Wedian, the New Administrative Capital of Egypt is located east of the current capital Cairo, 60 km from Suez City and Ain Sokhna. Planned for a capacity of 7 million inhabitants, the NAC aims to be a green and intelligent city.
Sustainable city ambitions
Al Masa will be partly powered by solar photovoltaic energy. The Egyptian authorities have already chosen several companies to install solar systems in the city under construction. This is the case of the Arab Industrialization Organization (AIO) and the Madkour Group, which have been appointed to build 14 mini solar photovoltaic power plants with a combined capacity of 20 MWp. Waste management in the new city has already been entrusted to Bee’ah, a company based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
However, according to some observers, “no public study of the city’s daily water consumption has been published. Like Cairo, the NAC would have to draw its water from the Nile, a river that is already under great pressure, especially in its delta. Also, the area of green spaces would have decreased compared to the initial plans. In any case, Acud says that the New Administrative Capital of Egypt will have about 2.5 million IoT devices and “the largest certified data center in Africa”.
Jean Marie Takouleu