In an impressive leap, Bharti Airtel, an Indian operator, has linked more than 20 million IoT devices through its B2B wing, Airtel Business. This achievement comes in the midst of India’s ongoing 5G expansion. The wide range of IoT features like asset tracking, smart metering, vehicle telematics and industrial asset monitoring were made available via Airtel Business’s integrated IoT platform. Utilizing 5G, 4G, NB-IoT, 2G, and satellite mediums, the platform ensures smooth transmission of connectivity.
Several key victories catalyzed the crossing of a 20 million device milestone. These included deals with Secure Meters, Matter Motor Works and TP Western Odisha Distribution Limited, amassing millions of smart meters in Bihar and 300,000 bikes via cellular IoT.
Simultaneously, Airtel IoT platform presents enterprises the capability to manage all their connected devices through a connectivity management portal named Airtel IoT Hub. This platform offers a suite of analytical tools for tasks such as diagnostics, real-time data-usage observations and live session checks.
Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, CEO of Airtel Business (India), shared his excitement, stating, “IoT is a key pillar in India’s digital growth journey and, as a brand powering this journey with our future-ready technology solutions for connected devices, we are delighted to achieve this significant milestone of 20 million connected devices on our platform.” He further highlighted the operator’s commitment to enhancing digital transformation efforts in the realm of automation and IoT.
This growth trajectory elucidates the considerable expansion of the IoT market, demonstrating how the drive to connect everything to the internet contributes to a global demand for chips. This topic was tackled in the recent US-India pact. In addition, this can be viewed in correlation with the escalating 5G deployment in India, reflected in the recent financial performance of kit vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia. Considering the current demands, Indian companies seem poised to grow in conjunction with the IoT market.
