Vodafone Idea announced its partnership with Genus Power Infra to set up Proof of Concept NB-IoT networks in India.

Vodafone Idea will conduct advanced trials at Genus’s R&D facility at Jaipur, Rajasthan around Automatic Metering Infrastructure.

Narrowband IoT is considered to be the next growth engine in the IoT space which allows greater network coverage, improved battery life of 10 years plus for devices, and the ability to slice and partition the network for specific use case.

“With the power of NBIoT, we look forward to bringing digital transformation in agriculture, healthcare, utilities such as energy, water & gas distribution and smart city applications,” Nick Gliddon, chief enterprise business officer, Vodafone Idea said.

Vodafone Group has earlier launched NB-IoT networks in many countries including Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Netherlands, South Africa etc. and is the global leader in managed IoT, with 74 million plus connections.

Genus has been an exporter of smart energy meters particularly to SEA / Africa and is also planning to commercially produce NB-IoT enabled smart meters both for India and the global markets.