Huawei and South African telco MTN launch smart water metering solution using NB-IoT connectivity.
South African telecommunications operator MTN and Huawei jointly launched a smart water metering solution in the South African market.
The Chinese company said the launch represents the first narrowband “internet of things” solution in Africa. The smart water metering service from MTN is set to be commercially deployed in 2017.
The solution is designed to enable the automated collection of utility meter data. Through sensors installed in water meters, customers can identify water pipeline leakage. Household water meters will automatically report data on a regular basis, reducing fault probabilities and the operating expense. The sensors, which are powered by Huawei’s NB-IoT technology, are designed to serve as a diagnostic spine underpinning network management.
“In line with our strategy to explore new enterprise markets, MTN is glad to lead the application of this new technology in Africa. Now we’ve succeeded in the commercial trial of smart water metering, the first NB-IoT service in Africa, and looking forward, wildlife tracking, smart farm and smart parking will be available to bring us a better connected Africa,” said Babak Fouladi, MTN Group CTO and CIO.
“The number of cellular IoT connections in Africa will grow seven-fold over the next three to four years and NB-IoT will be a key driver for this trend. We will build a robust, open ecosystem to drive NB-IoT technology innovation and commercialization,” added Jacky Chen, managing director of Huawei MTN Key Account Group.
Huawei said the global IoT market is expected to be worth trillions of dollars by 2020, and that there will be a promising market with 450 million cellular IoT connections needed in Africa.
