Australian carrier Telstra has more than 3.2 million devices are now connected to the telco’s IoT network, Gerhard Loots, head of Telstra’s IoT business, said in a blog post.
The executive also said that an average of 2,000 devices are being connected to the network every day. He also said that Telstra aims to have a total of 4 million devices connected to its nationwide IoT network in September 2020.
“There’s a huge opportunity for IoT to transform the way that businesses operate in Australia,” he wrote. “More than half of all Australian organizations surveyed are confident that an IoT strategy would generate significant revenue increases for their business, while over 70% agree that IoT can increase their employees’ productivity and lead to more positive experiences in the workplace.”
The executive highlighted that revenues from Telstra’s IoT business had recorded 20% growth in fiscal year 2019.
“We also know that the number of IoT devices being connected each day is growing at a rapid pace. Connected vehicles are an exciting IoT use case in our portfolio right now, but we’re also seeing a huge range of high-tech devices like solar panels, humidity sensors, traffic cones, buses, whitegoods and even garbage trucks being connected to our network,” Loots said.
Loots also said that Australian transport firm SCT Logistics is using Telstra’s Track and Monitor product across its rail freight and road transport fleet.
“Not only is SCT Logistics stemming the $4 million cost of losses each year, but it also hopes to get better usage and utilization rates out of its assets instead of letting them sit idle in customers’ warehouses and shipping yards,” he wrote. “After this successful trial, SCT Logistics is now rolling out Track and Monitor across its 1,500 non-powered assets like trailers and rail wagons, and integrating that data with its own systems.”
In the near future, Telstra expect to launch more devices in its Track and Monitor range for enterprise-scale use, including new asset tracking units with both LTE-M IoT and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for geo-location.
“This new unit will combine the strength of LTE-M for detailed critical tracking needs and the low-power benefits of Bluetooth tracking in one device,” the executive said.
In January 2018, Telstra announced the deployment of narrowband technology in its IoT network in major cities and many regional towns across Australia. This launch added to the company’s existing coverage with LTE-M technology.
At the beginning of 2018, Telstra opened a 5G Innovation Center on the Gold Coast, with the main aim of testing next-generation technologies to support the early commercial deployment of 5G mobile services in Australia.
Telstra plans to launch commercial 5G services in 2019. Telstra has previously said that it would work with Ericsson on key 5G technologies including massive multiple-input, multiple-output (massive MIMO), adaptive beamforming and beam tracking and OFDM-based waveforms in its Gold Coast center.
