Today, smart cities that are built in a global way, for example in the manner of Angers, are rather the exception. In practice, they tend to be built from the bottom up, in successive stages of work over several years. 

For example, a territory will first equip itself with an IoT infrastructure (internet of things - communicating objects). Or else, the deployment of a communication network (fibre optics, for example) will be given priority. Then other steps will follow.In general and transversally, 6 facilities are at the heart of the Smart City:

• public lighting,
• video protection, which is often based on a telecommunications infrastructure (fibre optics, radio, etc.), 
• traffic management or Tricolour Light Signalling (TLS),
• electric mobility, which relies in particular on electric charging stations (IRVE). The United Kingdom and the Netherlands, for historical reasons, have developed a network operator activity. Elsewhere, Equans has positioned itself as an excellent installer and maintainer. 
• telecommunication infrastructures. Example: in France, in a large city in the west, Equans is building a turnkey FTTH (Fiber To The Home) network (150,000 FTTH outlets installed). The service includes feasibility studies, implementation, installation and cabling.
• digital solutions: supervision, hypervision, digital platforms.

In each of these six areas, Equans positions itself as a technology solutions integrator. This positioning is justified by the fact that technical solutions - especially digital ones - are still evolving rapidly. Our teams and our technical partners must therefore identify and test them in real conditions before offering them to our clients. Thus, in France, in Roubaix, Vitrolles and Lieusaint, three Labs allow us to experiment with solutions before integrating them into our offer.