Telecom operator Vodafone today said it has become the first global Internet of Things (IoT) mobile provider to exceed 50 million connections.
Vodafone is adding around one million new IoT connections a month – with strong performance in the automotive, healthcare and utilities sectors.
Vodafone’s IoT solutions integrate its own mobile networks and other partner networks to provide unified connectivity services to customers across the globe.
The above slide illustrates Vodafone’s IoT achievements.
Verizon Communications on Thursday said its telematics revenues were $214 million in the first quarter of 2017. Verizon’s IoT revenues, which include telematics, increased approximately 17 percent in Q1 2017 year over year.
Vodafone did not reveal the revenue from its IoT business.
“Crossing the 50 million mark and being a global leader in IoT solutions is a testimony to Vodafone’s commitment and continued focus on innovation in the rapidly growing and dynamic IoT sector,” said Nick Gliddon, director – Vodafone Business Services.
Vodafone in February 2017 said its IoT connections increased 38 percent to 49.1 million for the quarter ended 31 December 2016. This indicates that Vodafone Group added one million IoT customers in the March quarter of 2017.
Findings from Vodafone IoT Barometer report:
# 24 percent of businesses’ IT budgets are being allocated to IoT
# 76 percent of businesses say that IoT will be ‘critical’ for the future success of any organisation in their sector
# 48 percent of IoT adopters say they’re using IoT to support large-scale business transformation
# 86 percent of businesses in the industrial sector — including companies in mining, construction and waste management — say they have seen “significant” return from implementing IoT
Vodafone in enterprise biz
Vodafone Group, announcing the 2016 December quarter result, said services to business customers comprised 28 percent of Group service revenue, and 32 percent in Europe in Q3.
Vodafone’s business customers are now benefiting from total communications, IoT, Cloud & Hosting and IP-VPN provision by expanding from core mobile voice and data connectivity.
Enterprise service revenue grew 3.3 percent in the third quarter. Vodafone Global Enterprise posted slower growth in Q3 reflecting increased competition in India and customer losses in the UK fixed market.
Vodafone India IoT clients
Prompt Softech is working with Vodafone for IoT connectivity.
“We’re working on the world’s largest IT integration project, and I expect the Vodafone managed IoT connectivity service to comprise at least 60 per cent of this project. We have 1,000 villages already connected, and we’ll reach 18,000 within three years,” said Ritesh Sutaria, CTO and co-founder of Prompt Softech.
Ecolibrium Energy is one of the IoT customers of Vodafone.
“The things we can do with the Vodafone IoT platform make it inevitable we’ll transition everything across. We can manage the entire estate from one place,” said Chintan Soni, founder & CEO, Ecolibrium Energy.
Vodafone India offers IoT solutions including Vodafone Location Tracker, Automotive Telematics, Remote Asset Management, Managed IoT Connectivity Platform, Wireless Payment solutions, Security & Surveillance solutions, Smart Metering solutions and Special SIMS designed for operating in harsh conditions.
