As one of the largest mobile operators in the world, Vodafone’s M2M strategy to date has largely been supported by its extensive mobile reach, but the £1.31 billion acquisition of CWW in July 2012 appears to have provided new fixed-line opportunities in the M2M space.
“CWW is a strong fixed-line operator in the UK and has worldwide capabilities. Before we purchased CWW, we already had some fixed-line networks, such as in Germany, Italy and Spain, but not really at scale,” said Erik Brenneis, head of M2M, Vodafone. “We now have a fixed-line business, which is at scale and that has done lots of M2M things in the past. For example, CWW provided the fixed-line communications for the national grid network in the UK and for lots of utilities.”
Brenneis added that former CWW employees with M2M experience have been integrated into his M2M team, and that a department has been established specifically dedicated to M2M fixed-line services.
The announcement came during the launch of a new report by Vodafone aimed at identifying key trends in the M2M market. Surveying 327 executives from across five key industries, the report indicated that 50% of companies surveyed intend to adopt M2M technology by 2015.
Among its other findings, the report highlighted that the falling costs of M2M hardware is set to lead to a major acceleration in adoption, and that smaller organisations are starting to adopt M2M faster than larger enterprises.
Vodafone claims to be one of the global leaders in the M2M market, providing end-to-end solutions or M2M managed connectivity. Earlier this week, it also launched a solution for the remote monitoring and control of M2M enabled devices, designed to help companies implement M2M.
