Sprint Nextel (S) expanded its machine-to-machine efforts globally announcing a partnership with France Telecom’s Orange Business Services division in a deal that it claims will enhance its reach to more than 180 countries. The deal also blurs the line between Sprint Nextel’s domestic CDMA-based M2M services and the predominately GSM-based technology used by M2M services internationally.
Terms of the deal were not released.
In addition to providing an international footprint for Sprint Nextel, Orange said it will provide M2M-specific GSM-based SIM cards and a Web portal allowing Sprint Nextel customers to order and manage their SIM cards. Sprint Nextel noted that the deal will allow it to expand its current M2M operations beyond the United States; provide a single point of contact for managing global customers; allow it to achieve economies of scale in a cost efficient manner; and provides an integrated M2M supply chain process.
Orange is tapping its International M2M Center in Brussels, Belgium, to support Sprint Nextel’s efforts, and claims current support for more than 2.5 million active M2M connections.
A recent report from Analysys Mason, “M2M Communication Service Provider Scorecard: 2011,” predicts 142 million M2M device connections worldwide by the end of this year, growing to 2.2 billion connections by 2020. The firm noted that the deal brings together two dominate players in the M2M space, with Sprint Nextel ranked No. 2 globally in its recent “M2M Communication Service Provider Scorecard: 2011.”
“Orange and Sprint recognized the need to simplify the M2M supply chain, including the OSS layer,” noted Analysys Mason Principal Analyst Steve Hilton in a research note. “They are working toward a more seamless integration so enterprises can easily buy and manage M2M solutions.”
Hilton also downplayed the differing core M2M technologies between the two partners, noting that has become less of an issue as chipset pricing has become just a “small fraction of the overall M2M cost.”
“IT integration, OSS/platform development, application development and services account for a larger share of the M2M cost,” Hilton added.
Other recent reports have been mixed on the strength of the M2M space, with a Frost & Sullivan forecast showing short-term growth for the European market, while a Gartner report doubting the space will meet 2012 expectations.
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