Australian operator Telstra has secured a 15-year contract with Melbourne-based utility firm Yarra Valley Water to provide one million industrial IoT connections on Telstra’s IoT network.
The win is Telstra’s largest IoT deal to date and the first large-scale IoT deployment utilizing Telstra’s new cloud-based platform-as-a-service IoT Connection Manager (ICM), which will help Yarra Valley Water gain access to near real-time data from a range of in-field sensors.
Yarra Valley Water Managing Director, Pat McCafferty, said: “Internet of Things devices are a game changer for the water industry. By deploying a range of different sensors into our water and sanitation networks, we can detect leaks, minimise water wastage and save our customers money.”
As part of the agreement, Telstra will provide the IoT connectivity and the ICM Platform to enable sensor readings to be collected automatically in near real-time. This will enable the utility company to prevent leaks from becoming bursts, sewer blockages from becoming spills, and notifying customers about issues on their properties so they can act quickly.
Telstra Group Owner of Industry Solutions and IoT Mark Chapman said: “Instead of getting four data points a year, our IoT Connection Manager will now allow Yarra Valley Water to get more than 17,000 data points annually for a much more accurate, near real-time, and robust understanding of its water infrastructure. This is a great example of how our leading IoT network and platform is helping organizations use connected technology to drive positive customer experiences and help remotely monitor its assets and complex infrastructure.”
The Yarra Valley Water solution leverages Telstra’s cellular low power wide area network (LPWAN), which offers an IoT coverage of around 4 million square kilometers for NB-IoT and over 3 million square kilometers for LTE-M.
Yarra Valley Water is Melbourne’s largest retail water utility, providing essential water and sanitation services to more than 1.8 million people.
Telstra said that its IoT network currently has over 4 million connections in the country.
Telstra, which had launched 5G in May 2020, is currently using its spectrum in the 3.6 GHz band to provide 5G technology across Australia. Some of the cities in which Telstra offers its 5G service are Canberra, Central Coast, Brisbane, Sidney, Cairns, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Hamilton, Melbourne and Perth.
The operator had also recently secured spectrum in the 26 GHz band to boost its 5G offering.
