HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The GSMA today announced that fourteen mobile operators across the Asia Pacific region, including Celcom, Dialog, DTAC, M1, Maxis, Ncell, Optus, Robi, Smart, Smartfren, Singtel, True, XL and Xpand have joined the GSMA APAC IoT Partnership Programme. The APAC IoT Programme represents the largest Internet of Things (IoT) community in the region, with over 500 partners including mobile operators, consultants, developers, manufacturers, system integrators and vertical solution providers, amongst others, and is set to grow to over 2,000 partners by 2020. As the largest IoT market in the world, the Asia Pacific region is expected to account for 11 billion connections and represent a revenue opportunity of $386 billion by 2025, according to GSMA Intelligence.
“The IoT is growing rapidly across the Asia Pacific region, with mobile operators working with their partners and the wider ecosystem to drive this expansion,” said Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific, GSMA. “This programme will support the development of the IoT by creating a cross-regional IoT community to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing, as well as creating opportunities that benefit both the supply chain and their customers. The programme is already expanding to include other Asia Pacific countries and we welcome new members to join.”
A key focus of the programme is the support of IoT Labs, which are being set up by operators across the region to encourage the development of new IoT products and services. The Labs are a key requirement for collaboration and encourage the joint development of new use cases, services and applications, and enable IoT innovations to be effectively deployed. All operators in the programme have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure that the coordination and output among the IoT Labs is consistent with IoT standards regionally and globally.
The Labs will be available to partners and customers in markets initially including Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In addition to establishing and expanding the new IoT labs, participating operators have also committed to develop new initiatives and share best practices to accelerate the deployment of innovative IoT use cases that will improve the lives of over 3 billion people across the Asia Pacific region.
For more information about the programme, visit: www.gsma.com/asia-pacific/resource/apac-iot-partnership/
PARTNER QUOTES
Axiata Group Berhad
Asri Hassan, Chief Executive Officer of Axiata Business Services, operating under the brand Xpand, said, “The Xpand business is focused on the multi-billion dollar Internet of Things within the Axiata market. To tap into this exponential growth in the next two to five years, it is imperative for Xpand accelerate the development and ecosystem within our markets. Besides the NB-IoT Lab that we set up in Sri Lanka, in partnership with the GSMA, we will continue to set up IoT labs in our other operating countries where innovators can all come in and experiment, as well as have the facilities to create applications for this ecosystem.”
DTAC
“DTAC has continuously supported Thailand’s drive towards the Digital Economy through collaboration with the GSMA and various parties. IoT is key to the country’s digital transition. Joining the APAC IoT Partnership Programme of the GSMA can enhance innovations in the IoT ecosystem, drive economic growth and increase the country’s competitiveness in the region,” said Thibaut Girard, Head of Strategy, DTAC.
Indosat Ooreodoo
“Indosat Ooredoo Business is driving transformation for enterprise as the preferred digital partner for business and are actively involved in Making Indonesia 4.0, as well as Smart Cities enabled by IoT. We collaborate with enterprises, governments, universities, app developers and manufacturers to develop solutions on our best-in-class IoT platform. We provide fit to use and secure connectivity for IoT which include NB-IOT, where the use cases and solution being developed in our IoT Innovation Lab. We are pleased to be part of the GSMA APAC IoT Partnership Programme to deliver more cross-regional initiatives that will help our customers to transform,” said Haroon Shahul. Hameed, Director & Chief Operating Officer Indosat Ooredoo.
M1
“M1 has been working with leading technology and digital solutions partners, government agencies and customers to capture opportunities in the digital economy and support Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives. Today, we are supporting our customers and partners for their IoT application development leveraging on our nationwide commercial NB-IoT network. In addition, our IoT lab provides a real-time environment for their experimentation. We look forward to engage more partners and drive new initiatives in the IoT ecosystem across Asia Pacific through the IoT Partnership Programme with the GSMA,” said Mr Alex Tan, Chief Innovation Officer, M1.
Maxis
“Maxis is pleased to be part of the GSMA APAC IoT Partnership Programme. Leveraging our superior suite of IoT solutions and backed by our industry-leading 4G network, we are confident that by working with solution providers in our IoT Lab, we will help strengthen the IoT ecosystem for businesses in Malaysia. Through this partnership, we hope to tap into the GSMA’s best practices and expertise in exploring and accelerating the many possibilities the IoT presents our customers in the Malaysian market place,” said Paul McManus, Head of Enterprise, Maxis.
Smartfren
"Smartfren is very pleased to be part of the GSMA APAC IoT Partnership Program to introduce IoT technology in Indonesia. This is in-line with what Smartfren always inspires to do; to enable and educate society in utilizing 4G LTE Advanced technology, for advancement of society in particular, and Indonesia in general. With this cooperation and learning the best practices across the region, Smartfren believes that we could introduce IoT soon and be able to contribute towards Indonesia's economic growth," said Mr. Shurish Subbramaniam, Chief Technology Officer, PT Smartfren Telecom Tbk.
Singtel
Mr Diomedes Kastanis, Head of IoT at Singtel said, “As a leading IoT platform and services provider, Singtel is pleased to be part of GSMA’s Innovation Lab. Our extensive IoT ecosystem facilitates seamless on-boarding of devices onto the cloud, enabling enterprises to easily launch and scale up new services that allow them to redefine existing business models.”
True
“We are excited to join the GSMA APAC IoT Partnership to build the IoT community. True has the fully integrated IoT ecosystem under the concept of "The Future is Real". We provide IoT services with the best NB-IoT network coverage throughout Thailand, and by cooperating with leading partners worldwide, we also offer the best IoT platform for the comprehensive uses and supporting a broad range of IoT applications. We will setup an IoT Innovation Lab at True Digital Park, Thailand’s first and largest digital innovation hub in Southeast Asia, to encourage innovators to test, learn and develop IoT technologies with True Group. Our IoT Innovation Lab can support the GSMA APAC IoT Programme and make it possible for Thai IoT innovators to further develop their potential in the near future,” said Mr.Songtham Phianpattanawit, Managing Director, IoT, True Corporation Plc.
-ENDS-
Notes:
1. Celcom, Dialog, Ncell, Robi, Smart, XL and Xpand are under the Axiata Group Berhad.
2. Optus and Singtel are under the Singtel Group.
About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with over 350 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well as the Mobile 360 Series of regional conferences.
For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.
