Airtel becomes first ICT provider to link over 20 million IoT devices

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced it has become the first Information and Communications Technology (ICT) service provider in India to connect over 20 million devices through its Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

IoT describes the network of physical objects embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet.

These devices range from ordinary household objects such as Wi-Fi routers, smartwatches and bluetooth devices, smart fridges and LEDs, to RFID tags and sophisticated industrial tools.

Deployment of millions of smart meters in Bihar and Odisha has raised the number of cellular IoT devices, the company's B2B division said.

 

In a partnership with electric vehicle start-up Matter Motor Works, it has also powered 300,000 bikes through cellular IoT.

Airtel's aggressive push in IoT has come at a time when rival Vodafone Idea (Vi) has doubled down the segment.

Vi is a major player in IoT verticals such as connected car solutions and EV battery management.

“IoT is a key pillar in India’s digital growth journey and, as a brand, it is powering this journey with our future-ready technology solutions for connected devices. With efficient and cost-effective automated IoT solutions, we are at the forefront of empowering enterprises to extend their reach to the remotest parts of the country on our secure platform as they scale their businesses,” Ganesh Lakshminarayanan – CEO, Airtel Business (India) said.

Powered with an extensive suite of innovative solutions such as asset tracking, vehicle telematics, industrial asset monitoring, smart metering, amongst many others, Airtel Business’s integrated IoT platform offers customised solutions for unique IoT requirement of enterprises across 5G, 4G, Narrow Band (NB-IoT), 2G and satellite, the company said.

The platform offers enterprises the capability to manage all connected devices through a connectivity management portal ̶Airtel IoT hub.

It also offers advanced analytics tools like diagnostics, live session checks and real-time data-usage monitoring amongst many others.

Airtel Business has more than 8000+ active customers and over 9.9 lakh 2G and 4G sites.

Airtel was the first to deploy a private 5G network for enterprises in India. It currently has 12 large data centres and 120+ edge data centres across the country.

Keeping an eye on the fast-rising IoT use cases in India, the government is looking to set aside select spectrum bands, machine-to-machine communications, and advanced cloud-based services.

Rather than auction these bands for, the government will administratively allocate these for a range of uses which are expected to promote local manufacturing, innovation and development of indigenous technology, officials had earlier told Business Standard.