by Staff Writer
Vodacom informed investors on Wednesday that its Internet of Things (IoT) customers increased by 29.3% to 2.8 million in the third quarter to end-December 2016.
The customers of Vodacom Business, an enterprise division of Vodafone-owned Vodacom, continues to adopt IoT solutions.
IoT, previously machine-to-machine, is the remote wireless interchange between two or more predefined devices or a central station without a direct relationship with an end customer, in order to support a specific business process or product.
Customer enthusiasm for the IoT is growing across sectors, fueling more than $75 billion in mergers & acquisitions by major vendors and $30 billion from venture capital firms.
Global research firm Bain & Company expect that by 2020, annual revenues could exceed $450 billion for the IoT vendors selling the hardware, software and comprehensive solutions that will make up the Internet of Things.
Estimates are that by 2020, there will be 50 billion things or IoT devices – smart cars, fridges, toasters, streetlights, heart monitors, chairs, door locks, etc. – connected to the Internet. But some of this is not hot air, some companies are already deploying IoT solutions that save lives and empowering farmers to make money across the African continent.
Vodacom has identified IoT as a key strategic growth and the mobile phone operator wants to be at the centre of the ecosystem to spur it. For more reading: Vodacom wants to be the driver for IoT ecosystem
The South African-based mobile phone giant has established a dedicated IoT business led by Deon Liebenberg.
Vodacom Business added that its fixed-line and business managed services revenue grew 29.1% and cloud and hosting services delivered strong revenue growth of 25.8%.
“We have secured certain mobile, voice and data communications contracts with national and provincial government departments’ for a period of four years,” the company said.
Vodacom Business wants to leverage its parent company Vodafone’s infrastructure and that of its stand-alone subsidiary XLink Communications – a provider of wireless data M2M services.
Vodacom Business Africa provides total communications – including virtual private networks, converged mobile and fixed-line access as well as cloud services – to enterprises across the continent. The enterprises include Aveng, Barclays, DHL, Ecobank, FirstRand, Naspers, Sasol and Thomson Reuters.
Vodacom Business Africa competes for enterprise customers with Africa’s largest mobile phone operator MTN and French telecoms group Orange in the rest of Africa.
