For successfully deploying South Asia’s first commercial Massive IoT network, Sri Lankan services provider Dialog Axiata PLC and Ericsson won the IoT Initiative of the Year award in London.
Now in its 6th year, the 2018 Global Telecom (GLOTEL) Awards recognize innovation from any company involved in transforming the telecoms industry.
Dialog and Ericsson’s project was rolled out in February this year and was the first commercially available Massive IoT network in South Asia that supports both Cat-M1 and NB-IoT technologies.
Among its advantages are superior coverage, long battery life, and cost-effective solutions to enterprises. According to the partners, the network is envisioned to accelerate the connected-life and digitize industries in Sri Lanka.
Dialog is now conducting trials for IoT-enabled smart electricity meters, power distribution monitoring systems, smart greenhouse, smart garbage bin and smart weather solutions.
“The award recognizes our innovation efforts on a global sphere and the use cases provide a great reference for other regions to follow South Asia’s lead,” said Pradeep De Almeida, Group Chief Technology Officer, Dialog Axiata PLC, in a news release.
Dialog Axiata PLC, is a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata) and operates Sri Lanka’s largest mobile telecommunications network.
The company’s annual report in 2017 stated that it delivers advanced mobile telephony and high-speed mobile broadband services to a subscriber base of over 12.7 million.
Ericsson has activated the Massive IoT RAN software for Dialog’s existing LTE-installed base, providing end users with access the network with wider coverage and longer battery life.
The Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm was also involved in organizing technology workshops and IoT deep-dive sessions for Dialog Axiata.
Both companies said the future roadmap of the joint project includes launching an Innovation Center for 5G and IoT use case development.
