Gaia Smart Cities acquires IoT unit of local firm
Indian startup Gaia Smart Cities has acquired compatriot firm netCOR Solutions’s “internet of things” division.
Under the terms of the agreement, netCOR Solutions will invest in Gaia Smart Cities to support the development of the firm.
Gaia said the acquisition will enable the company to grow rapidly in the IoT market with solutions for both industrial automation and smart cities.
Gaia currently has 24 active customers across India and is currying out pilots with another 10 customers.
“We were drawn toward the strong technical team, a robust technical platform and extremely focused approach of the netCORE IoT team. We found great synergies with our own smart cities platforms and solutions like smart metering and smart tracking,” Gaia Smart Cities’ CEO Sumit Chowdhury said.
“We continue to believe in the potential of IoT and smart cities, and have found that the leadership and ideas of Gaia are better and can be aligned to grow this business and support the customers we already have,” netCore Solutions’ founder and managing director, Rajesh Jain, said.
Gaia’s cloud-based product portfolio includes smart metering-as-a-service, smart asset tracking-as-a-service, and smart industrial automation as a service. These solutions are already being piloted in different cities.
Also, Gaia’s consulting team is actively engaged in developing smart city plans for seven of the 33 winning cities under the 100 Smart Cities Mission being supported by the government of India.
BSNL to expand fixed and mobile network infrastructure
Also in India, state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam announced plans to extend its next-generation network to around 5 million new homes and businesses by March 2017, local press reported.
Urban areas will receive 3 million of the new lines, while the remaining 2 million will be deployed in semi-urban areas, according to the report. The telco also announced plans to improve its mobile network service quality issues by installing 300 new base transceiver stations in Himachal Pradesh.
