News
Swedish telco to roll out LoRaWAN in Gothenburg, wins deal with telematics firm 1-Fleet Alliance.
Tele2 on Wednesday announced an Internet of Things (IoT) partnership with IBM that will see the two companies offer an IoT ‘starter kit’ to enterprises.
Under the agreement, Tele2 will provide global connectivity and related services, while IBM will supply its Watson IoT platform and consulting solutions.
To lower the barrier to IoT, Tele2 and IBM have also devised an IoT Starter Kit, containing SIM cards and integration with IBM’s Bluemix cloud services platform. Tele2 will handle connectivity and value-added services, and IBM will be responsible for implementation, integration, cloud services, and deployment.
"IBM’s industry leading solutions combined with Tele2’s IoT competence will help clients on their IoT journey and allow them to introduce new revenue models, reduce time to market, and lower operational costs," said Rami Avidan, managing director of Tele2 IoT, in a statement.
The announcement was made the same day that Tele2 revealed it will deploy an IoT network in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second city.
The operator has partnered with Swiss managed IoT services provider TalkPool to roll out a network based on the LoRaWAN standard, providing cheap, long-range communication between battery-operated devices.
"Our combined expertise in IoT will deliver real benefits to new and existing customers and provide a basis for the continued explosive growth in the Internet of Things," Avidan said.
Tele2 also announced it has won a three-year contract to provide connectivity to 1-Fleet Alliance, a 17-strong group of telematics providers spread across Europe.
1-Fleet Alliance serves 24,000 customers and has more than 403,000 tracking units currently in operation. Under the deal, Tele2 expects to supply more than 150,000 SIM cards to the group.
"Tele2’s flexible approach and its management platform, combined with its attractive pricing and experience in working with a number of 1-Fleet Alliance members, were amongst the key reasons for selecting Tele2," said Tiago Borges, CEO of fleet management provider and 1-Fleet Alliance member Inosat Global.
