BT Group and Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced an agreement to expand their existing partnership to collaborate on new IoT industry solutions for UK and global customers, while BT also signed up as a Channel Partner for AWS Marketplace, providing a single source for managed solutions to its customers. Furthermore, the agreement covers new 5G edge computing services for BT’s UK B2B clients powered by AWS Wavelength. It was announced that these agreements target a USD500 million revenue opportunity for BT across the spectrum of connectivity and digital solutions and services, in the UK and worldwide, over the next five years.
US-based IoT Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS) provider KORE Group has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the IoT business of Twilio as part of its declared mission to create a global ‘IoT hyperscaler’. Full terms of the deal – subject to customary closing conditions – were undisclosed, although Twilio will receive ten million common shares in KORE representing an approximate 11.5% stake. KORE’s SVP of Customer Experience and Global IoT Managed Services, Rajesh Gupta, said that the combination of KORE’s ‘OmniSIM’ and Twilio’s ‘Super SIM’ will go a long way towards solving IoT global connectivity issues.
New Zealand’s largest water services provider Watercare has started rolling out smart loggers on water meters for commercial premises in Auckland to better manage water usage across the city, based on a managed service solution from Spark IoT that includes a device and SIM management platform. So far, 3,300 water meters have been connected to the Spark NB-IoT network to provide usage information to Watercare, with an additional 2,500 meters lined up. Spark’s Matt McLay noted: ‘Our new NB-IoT network is the perfect connectivity fit because it provides wide reliable coverage and is suited to battery-powered metering systems that send small amounts of data. On top of this, we’ve activated NB-IoT connectivity across our cell sites to provide around 90% population coverage.’
UnaBiz, the owner of Sigfox ‘0G’ technology, has reached a partnership agreement with Swiss-based global IoT company Loriot on multi-protocol products enabling large-scale IoT deployments for customers across a range of industries, allowing clients to deploy massive-scale IoT projects with the choice between protocols that are best suited for their use cases. The pair aim to deliver integrated IoT solutions with multiple LPWAN capabilities including Sigfox 0G, LoRaWAN and mioty.
Zain Kuwait has completed a technical prototype validation for ‘5.5G RedCap’ technology, highlighting uses cases including industrial internet, electric power industry, wearables, video surveillance, smart vehicles and other IoT applications. The technology, part of the 3GPP architecture, enables network speeds of 100Mbps/10Mbps (downlink/uplink) and is said to reduce terminal complexity by about 60% compared to traditional 5G terminals.
Russia’s four main mobile operators MTS, MegaFon, Beeline and Tele2 Russia had around 35.5 million M2M/IoT SIMs connected to their networks at end-2022, up 19.5% from 29.7 million a year earlier, according to a study published by TelecomDaily, projecting a total of 39.3 million M2M SIMs by end-2023. The cellcos’ M2M/IoT revenues were forecast to reach RUB11.9 billion (USD154 million), up from estimates of RUB10.9 billion in 2022 and RUB8.8 billion in 2021, while MegaFon reportedly retained a leading position in terms of both M2M SIMs and revenues. The study reckoned that the SIM volume growth rate was roughly maintained year-on-year in FY22 – estimated at 5.8 million compared to about 6.0 million in FY21 – despite market obstacles including sanctions, withdrawal of foreign vendors and problems with logistics – albeit a slowdown is projected for FY23.
China Mobile International (CMI) and UAE telco du have embarked on a strategic partnership in Dubai to promote the ‘Internet of Vehicles’ with specific focus on supporting Chinese automobile manufacturers. Karim Benkirane, CCO at du, declared: ‘Through this partnership with CMI, we will be able to provide a comprehensive range of solutions and services to our customers, and support the growth of the automotive industry in UAE.’ CMI’s carrier-specific service, iConnect, offers comprehensive professional services including Voice, SMS, Mobile, Data, and Professional Services to global operators.
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