Airtel teams up with Secure Meters to deploy NB-IoT powered smart meters

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced its partnership with Secure Meters for deploying Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) services to power 1.3 million homes in Bihar via a smart meter solution.

The telco said this deployment will be India's first NB-IoT solution on a narrow band with a fall-back option that will work on 2G and 4G, and ensure real-time connectivity and uninterrupted transfer of critical data.

NB-IoT is a low-power, wide area, radio network technology which enables a wide variety of IoT devices and services, including smart meters.

Airtel's NB-IoT platform is future-ready and is scalable to 5G, the telco said in a release.

Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO of Airtel Business, informed that IoT is one of the fastest-growing business segments for Airtel Business.

"This venture into NB-IoT strengthens our credentials as the largest cellular IoT player in the country and places us firmly as a partner of choice for Discoms looking to invest in smart meters. We look forward to being an active player in India's energy transition," Chitkara said.

Ananya Singhal, Joint MD - Secure Meters, said: "With Airtel's support, we were able to seamlessly connect and monitor our meters, resulting in greater efficiency and cost savings for secure and for our customers in North Bihar.