Thailand’s True Corp yesterday launched IoT eSIM packages, targeted at three main market segments of IoT users: manufacturers/developers, business partners and general customers, whilst its NB-IoT network now covers every major Thai province and is scheduled to expand to all provinces nationwide by May this year, alongside its LTE-M network rollout, the Bangkok Post reports. Songtham Phianpattanawit, True’s managing director for IoT, said: ‘Our IoT ecosystem is better prepared compared with major rivals thanks to testing carried out during the initial stages of the True NB-IoT network in 2016, coupled with strong global IoT platform partners like Huawei, Ericsson and China Mobile’ and added that True’s IoT business generated THB800 million (USD25.6 million) in revenue in 2017. The company’s IoT products include True Kidz Watch, True 4G Car WiFi, True 4G CCTV and iHealth View for wireless blood pressure monitoring. True has around 5,000 enterprise clients, around half of which are expected to adopt IoT-connected devices and solutions by the end of 2019.
Telekom Slovenije has opened NB-IoT test networks in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana and second-city Maribor for companies, developers and educational institutions to test IoT applications in a live environment. The operator is also running NB-IoT field tests in partnership with the Universities of Ljubljana and Maribor, involving applications in areas including smart cities, e-mobility and e-health.
Spark New Zealand announced on 26 March that its LoRaWAN IoT network is now live, covering 60% of rural and urban areas across the country, targeting a 70% footprint by July this year by installing LoRa gateways and antennas on Spark’s existing wireless towers and at some third-party sites. The telco added that it is looking to partner with organisations to extend coverage into areas on demand. Spark has partnered with Kordia (building and maintaining the network), Kerlink (supplying the LoRa gateways) and Actility (providing the ThingPark Wireless platform), with services now live in Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Shannon, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch and Dunedin. Sites in Hastings and Invercargill will go live in the next few weeks.
South African Sigfox-based IoT network operator SqwidNet reports that it has reached 83% population coverage, up from 64% in October 2017 and 38% in May 2017. Its network has also reached 90% municipal highway coverage and 75% national highway coverage. SqwidNet has partnered with over 30 ICT service providers who are deploying IoT products in various sectors.
Vodafone Spain has introduced the ‘V by Vodafone’ consumer service range, initially including connected car dongles (V-Car), 4G security camera (V-Camera), pet location and activity tracker (V-Pet) and bag location tracker (V-Bag), available to any mobile user including subscribers to other mobile networks.
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