Vodafone Passes 50 Million IoT Connections, Growing at One Million New Connections Every Month

Vodafone has become the first global Internet of Things (IoT) mobile provider to pass the landmark of 50 million connections, with growth of around one million new connections every month.

Performance has been particularly strong in the automotive, healthcare and utilities sectors, as IoT technologies have quickly become a core research and development focus for a wide range of enterprises.

Vodafone’s recent IoT Barometer report illustrates this point: 24 percent of businesses’ IT budgets are being allocated to IoT and 76 percent of businesses see IoT as being “critical” to the future success of any organisation in their sector.

IoT focus

Vodafone first established its dedicated business unit for machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies in 2011, which has since enjoyed double-digit annual growth in IoT revenue

Vodafone Director of IoT Ivo Rook said “Vodafone were one of the earliest believers in the potential for the Internet of Things to transform business and life. The 50 million milestone is a testament to our continued focus and commitment to innovation in this rapidly growing and dynamic sector.”

Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) has been a particular focus over the last year or so. The operator has been one of the most vocal cheerleaders for Nb-IoT, a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology which makes it more efficient to connect devices that require long battery life or are in hard to reach areas using existing cellular networks.

Last year the company partnered with Huawei to open an NB-IoT Open Lab in Berkshire, which it claimed will act as a catalyst for the development of a single cellular standard for the IoT.

This came shortly after the two companies completed the first commercial trial of pre-standard  (NB-IoT) technology and since then Vodafone has continued to roll out its network, with its first one going live in Spain last month.

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