Optus and Nokia have agreed on a joint go-to-market strategy to bring IoT solutions across multiple industry segments in Australia. This comes on the tail of the announcement that the Australian telco operator has chosen Nokia’s IMPACT Internet of Things (IoT) platform to provide device management and data collection capabilities to their customers.
Nokia’s IoT Device Management Platform (DMP) will enable Optus to provide its customers with simple access to Narrow Band-IoT device data, from low power devices, and remote device management at scale. This can be done regardless of device type.
The two companies will work together to help create smart cities and support enterprise customers across industries, including mining, utilities and transportation.
“Our strategic alliance with Nokia will standardise and streamline IoT devices under one platform and unlock powerful productivity capabilities to fuel Australia’s digital transformation and its smart cities and smart spaces of the future,” said Deon Liebenberg, vice president of product innovation, Optus Business.
“By collaborating with global technology leaders like Nokia, we’re able to offer Optus customers more value and choice on how they manage their devices and networks. The combined power of Optus’ premium IoT network with Nokia’s state-of-the-art IoT platform, will deliver customers the flexibility to consume this innovative, carrier-agnostic solution as software as a service, platform as a service, or connectivity as a service,” he added.
Australia's IoT market is estimated to grow to USD 25 billion by 2024, up from USD 7.9 billion in 2018, indicating the potential opportunity for Optus and Nokia. Anticipated industry applications include cost effective waste management, supply chain optimisation, logistics management and scene analytics for improved safety and security.
The alliance builds on Nokia’s longstanding relationship with Optus. Nokia is working collaboratively with the operator to manage and maintain its network infrastructure. The two companies launched Australia’s first 5G commercial services in early 2019, making Optus the first operator globally to deploy Nokia’s FastMile 5G indoor gateway in a live network. Nokia and Optus also successfully launched a 5G Fixed Wireless Access service using the 5G New Radio standard.
“By working with Optus, Nokia can bring to bear its pan-industry experience across these asset-intensive industries. We will enable Optus to expand its offering in these markets, helping its customers to leverage the efficiency and productivity potential of IoT. We believe this agreement with Optus will help more companies build greater resilience into their operations,” said Anna Wills, head of Oceania at Nokia.
