Vodacom ioT division reaches 3 million connections

Image: Vodacom narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) laboratory at its campus in Midrand

Image: Vodacom narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) laboratory at its campus in Midrand

Published Sep 27, 2017

Share

CAPE TOWN- Vodacom reached a milestone by connecting more than 3 million ‘things’ in South Africa and averaging 55 000 new connections per month. 

The internet of things (IoT) refers to the connecting of any device with an on and off switch to the internet and/or to each other.

Deon Liebenberg, Managing Executive for Vodacom IoT says, “Vodacom is pioneering the next wave of connected things in South Africa." 

"It’s worth noting that it took us 8 years to get to 2 million connections and it took us only one year to get to 3 million."

The rate of IoT adoption is picking up speed locally and with the commercial rollout of NarrowBand-IoT, this is only going to accelerate even faster. The Internet of Things is no longer hype it’s real and it’s becoming more and more a part of our daily lives", says Liebenberg. In February 2017, Vodafone announced that it had become the first global IoT mobile provider to exceed 50 million connections, demonstrating growth of around one million new connections a month, with particularly strong performance in the automotive, healthcare and utilities sectors.

Vodacom opened a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) laboratory at its Vodacom World campus in June to commercialise machine-to-machine and IoT systems using Narrowband low power. 

Narrowband low power makes use of radio technology which is developed to enable a wide range of devices and service to be connected using cellular telecommunications bands. Vodacom announced in 2016 that it had started its NB-IoT network build and it continues to invest in the expansion of its IoT offering, a key strategic growth area.

- BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE

Related Topics: