Buses in Brazil connected to mobile broadband

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

• World-first solution to connect public buses to 3G mobile broadband provided by Dataprom and Ericsson
• Through the Electronic Ticketing andFleet Management Systems, controllers can access information about and monitor their fleet
• Citizens of Curitiba in Brazil first to try out and enjoy improved public transport services based on high-bandwidth connectivity 

Are there benefits of connecting buses to a network? That's a question that the city government of Curitiba in Brazil posed before deciding to make it the first city in the world to implement a brand new public transportation solution developed by Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Dataprom, the Brazilian supplier of public-transport solutions.

The solution, which is already in use in Curitiba, connects public buses to 3G mobile broadband networks, and is equipped with Ericsson mobile broadband modules for high speed access. By supplying the Electronic Ticketing andFleet Management Systems, Dataprom and Ericsson will enable controllers to access a wide range of information about their fleet and monitor the route, stop time, speed, distance travelled, date of departure and arrival.

The largest city in southern Brazil, Curitiba has a unique public bus service which has raised much interest and received worldwide recognition. The new solution opens up possibilities for new traveler services that can help people plan their route and enable them to purchase tickets wherever and whenever it is most convenient.

Alexei Rodrigues, Commercial Director, Dataprom, says: "We are driving machine-to-machine adoption in the public transportation sector in Brazil. With Ericsson's expertise and mobile broadband solutions, our customers can easily manage their fleets and develop applications that can help them in their daily operations."

Mobile broadband solutions like these play a key role in Ericsson's vision of connecting 50 billion devices by 2020. Eduardo Ricotta, Vice-President Customer Unit Brazil, Ericsson, says: "We believe that everything that benefits from a network connection will have one, and our embedded modules enable mobile broadband connections to any device. Mobile broadband is becoming increasingly important to transportation companies because advanced communications can make them all more efficient, safer and greener. The partnership with Dataprom opens up new opportunities for us in a rapidly growing market."

Source: Ericsson