Highlights
SÃO MARTINHO AND ERICSSON ESTABLISH STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF 5G SOLUTIONS FOR AGRIBUSINESS
Agreement includes the development of joint actions in research and innovation, with focus on increasing agricultural and industrial efficiency, leveraging the recent investments in agricultural connectivity - “PROJECT COA” - developed by São Martinho
São Paulo, September 30th, 2020 – São Martinho SA (SMTO3), a world reference in agroindustrial management, which is among the largest sugar-energy groups in Brazil, and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), leader in the telecommunications sector, announce an unprecedented agreement in the country, focused on the development of technological innovations for agribusiness to be applied in the IoT (Internet of Things) environment, based on open standards of 4G and 5G connectivity. This initiative will increase the speed of transformation of São Martinho's farms into Smart Farming through 5G connectivity.
São Martinho chose Ericsson as a partner to enable 5G coverage of the entire operation of the São Martinho Plant, considered the largest sugarcane processing unit in the world, located in the city of Pradópolis, where an innovation center will be installed to develop real 5G applications for agribusiness, using 700MHz and 3500MHz frequencies. As next step, a telecom operator, still to be defined, will selected by São Martinho to be part of the partnership.
To complete the ecosystem, the participation of entrepreneurs and startups are also expected, enabling more agile and flexible integrations between companies and agribusiness developers.
The use cases of 5G technology, generated as a result of this partnership, will increase São Martinho’s efficiency in processes that require high speed of data transfer and a very low latency (response time), allowing the use of autonomous vehicles such as tractors and trucks, drones for intelligent control of pests and weeds, identification and location of fires in their agricultural areas, among other activities that require data processing and high-speed image.
“The agribusiness sector corresponds to almost 25% of the Brazilian GDP, and only 29% of rural properties are connected, which represents a restrictive factor for innovation and productivity. This is a sector that deserves even more attention when it comes to reducing the digital spread. Currently Brazil occupies the third position in the Agribusiness Export Ranking in the world. Thus, any benefit generated by this partnership between Ericsson and São Martinho will have a strong positive impact and will support the growth of the Brazilian economy”, says Eduardo Ricotta, Ericsson CEO of Latam South, reinforcing the commitment that company assumed to support São Martinho in the digital transformation of its farms.
A sectoral analysis developed by Ericsson showed that connectivity in the countryside will bring a similar disruption to that brought in the 1960s with the tractor, with significant benefits in all aspects of agriculture. The digitalization potential of the Brazilian economy, combined with the maturity of information technologies and communication sector and the consequent emergence of a digital ecosystem, now creates a favorable environment for digital transformation in the countryside, enabled by connectivity.
“We are very happy to be able to support São Martinho in this important step. In the next 5 years, high capacity cellular internet coverage (4G and 5G) in the countryside is expected to cover an area corresponding to that which 2G and 3G technologies took 20 years to achieve. The development of the entire agribusiness chain from the IoT and with the advent of 5G can make Brazil even more productive than it is today. The global demand for plant inputs, food and protein will double by 2050 and Brazil is the only large country, with favorable conditions to increase in scale the supply of food, in addition to huge space for productivity gains in different stages of the chain, becoming the largest exporter of agricultural products in this new decade”, adds Ricotta.
About São Martinho
São Martinho is among the largest sugar-energy groups in Brazil, with an approximate crushing capacity of 24 million tons of sugarcane and an average harvest mechanization rate of 100%, a benchmark in the sector. It has four units in operation: Usina São Martinho, in Pradópolis, in the Ribeirão Preto region (SP); Usina Iracema, in Iracemápolis, in the region of Limeira (SP); Usina Santa Cruz, located in Américo Brasiliense (SP) and Usina Boa Vista, in Quirinópolis, 300 kilometers from Goiânia (GO).
The São Martinho, Santa Cruz and Iracema mills produce sugar and ethanol, while the Boa Vista mill is dedicated exclusively to the production of ethanol. All of them generate electricity from the burning of sugarcane bagasse, guaranteeing self-sufficiency and selling the surplus.
The Company has a differentiated logistics platform for product transportation, due to its high storage capacity and the proximity to important highways and railways, also having its own railway branch, resulting in great operational and logistics agility.
After a comprehensive professionalization process, as of February 2007, São Martinho had its shares traded on the Novo Mercado, the highest corporate governance segment of the São Paulo Stock Exchange (B3), under the ticker SMTO3.
About Ericsson
Founded in 1876 in Stockholm, Sweden, and present for 95 years in Brazil, Ericsson is a protagonist in the main technological leaps registered in the country and in the world, being a reference in technology, communications, hardware, software and services. It is recognized worldwide as a leader in digital platforms and mobile networks, not only in construction and infrastructure, but in their relevance to society and the economy of the countries in which it operates, with a reputation built on technical competence and its ability to innovation.
Ericsson pioneered the implementation of 5G on five continents and today there are more than 60 active commercial operations using Ericsson's 5G technology in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, the Middle East, Australia, South Korea, China, Brazil, among others
Ericsson has been operating in Brazil since 1924, but the Swedish company's first interaction in the country occurred in 1877, when it installed here, at the request of Emperor Dom Pedro II, the first landline. Since then, we have assumed a leading role in the telecommunications sector in the Brazilian market, which is repeated for the network infrastructure sector. We are leaders in 2G, 3G, 4G and we will also be in 5G. We have a high-performance factory installed in São José dos Campos / SP since 1955, one of the five manufacturing plants that Ericsson maintains in the world and is today the oldest in uninterrupted operation, exporting 40% of the total produced.
The company also maintains a Center of Excellence in R & D & I in Indaiatuba / SP, where more than 450 researchers work. More than 140 patents were developed locally as a result of this work and, making a cut only in the last twenty years, more than R $ 1 billion were invested. Ericsson is ready to take the lead in the advancement of 5G in Latin America. In November last year, the company announced a robust investment of R $ 1 billion in research, development and manufacturing of 5G in Brazil, for the period from 2020 to 2025.
