The two companies have been testing the use of NB-IoT in Italy since 2017
Italian carrier TIM, along with compatriot company Olivetti, has unveiled a range of services for narrowband internet of things technology.
The operator said that its expansion of NB-IoT connectivity to cover all of Italy will support businesses and local authorities as they adopt smart city, smart metering and smart agriculture technology, as well as Industry 4.0 applications for smart logistics and smart factory.
TIM and Olivetti said that NB-IoT can make providing services such as gas, water and electricity “more efficient and reliable” and offered other examples where it can improve quality of life, such as car parking management, improving environmental conditions via air quality monitoring and promoting sustainable lifestyles through heat consumption monitoring.
The two companies have been running live field experiments using NB-IoT technology since 2017. Those tests included deploying the first smart water metering system for automatically communicating consumption data. They also have commercially launched gas metering and water metering in Italy, with local companies Italgas and AS Reti among their customers.
“Thanks to NB-IoT solutions, new ‘smart’ services can be developed for the purpose of improving people’s lives, enabling companies to incorporate innovation and efficiency into their processes, entailing total rethinking. TIM continues to invest in the transition towards 5G, engaging high level partners and solutions so as to offer advanced all-inclusive services able to guarantee security and interoperability”, said Mario di Mauro, TIM chief innovation & customer experience officer.
“Olivetti is ready with M2M and IoT platforms to offer clients new services with the ability to exploit fully the potentiality of NB-IoT technology, capillary cover and efficiency arising from the use of devices and sensors designed ad-hoc. Olivetti aims to assume the role as reference point for Internet of Things on the Italian market, and our clients are already appreciating the reliability of the networks provided by the TIM Group and our specialised skills in digital services,” said Antonio Cirillo, Olivetti CEO.
In related news, TIM has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Italian subsidiary of Japanese company Fujitsu to work together on network innovation and the development of value-added services on the basis of 5G and other emerging technologies such as blockchain and Quantum-inspired computing.
Both TIM and Fujitsu Italia committed to jointly exploring the potential offered by 5G networks and accelerating digital transformation in strategic sectors such as automotive, utilities, finance and manufacturing.
