The internet of things, or IoT, and the telecom industry, merged, are proving to be a formidable and powerful force for many businesses and individuals across the globe. How does IoT impact the telecom industry? In this article and discussion, we will delve more into this matter, highlighting IoT in telecom, and you will also get to know the opportunities IoT opens for this industry, its use cases, its value, the options for development, and more.
The Many Opportunities IoT Opens To The Telecom Industry
The telecommunications industry is regarded as among the leading users of the Internet of Things. IoT is a system of interconnected computing devices, objects, mechanical and digital machines, animals, or people provided with unique identifiers or UIDs, and the capability to transfer data over a network without having human-to-computer or human-to-human interaction.
Berg Insight, an independent consulting firm, and analyst in the industry, has predicted that by 2024, there will be 4.15 billion IoT-based devices connected to mobile networks. Meaning to say this will offer huge opportunities to telecom industry operators.
Companies in the telecom industry have been capitalizing on the development in numbers of IoT devices, 38.6 billion of which are projected to be in use worldwide by the year 2025. Their biggest advantage is the existing infrastructure of mobile phone towers and Internet cables. This infrastructure serves as the ground for devising new solutions and services based on IoT and 5G technologies.
With this being said, operators in the telecom industry are maximizing these opportunities, developing sizable ecosystems of interconnected people and devices, and enabling seamless communication. Many providers in the industry have also begun developing services and products based on IoT to satisfy the needs and requirements of customers from a variety of vertical markets.
As of today, the most promising niche for operators in this industry is IoT in home automation. This works so that telecoms provide exceptional services concerning mobile and network connectivity to empower various real-time monitoring systems and smart home mobile applications.
Aside from smart homes, professionals in the industry also distinguish particular industries where they see the most incredible opportunities for implementing IoT solutions and services. These include:
- Smart cities
- Utilities
- Manufacturing
- Security
- Agriculture
- Logistics
Telecom companies need to tie up with professional IoT development specialists who can implement this technology into business processes and existing infrastructure to further maximize such opportunities.
In addition, large companies in the telecom industry may need to build their IoT platforms that will enable the production of custom products and services for any client’s needs. With a working IoT platform, this can be achieved.
Notable Use Cases Of IoT In The Telecom Industry
Aside from understanding the opportunities, it is also vital to know the many use cases of IoT in telecom. The usual work of communications service providers or CSPs involves, above everything, data transmission through digital channels. But why not utilize this data potential wholly? With the implementation of IoT technology, an innovation that also deals with considerable amounts of data, providers in the telecom industry can offer entirely brand new services and solutions to their clients, improving their position on the market significantly.
Here are the use cases.
1. IoT Connectivity Services
The first use case of IoT for the telecom industry is to offer connectivity services to customers who own IoT devices.
These customers will then be responsible for collecting, storing, and managing the data, while telecom providers will keep the infrastructure of these clients connected to the network.
2. Data Management And Storage
Another use case of IoT in this industry is data storage and processing from the IoT devices of clients on the side of the telecom company. In this regard, the client manages a business application to gain access to crucial information on a platform that is centralized, while the provider takes responsibility for the backend processes, which include data storing, classifying, cleaning, filtering, and more.
3. Data Analytics
Nowadays, different analytics services are becoming increasingly popular since they offer help to businesses when extracting valuable insights coming from raw metrics and quickly making revolutionary decisions. Telecom companies must never miss this opportunity. They cannot only store IoT-generated data but also analyze this and deliver meaningful reports to their clients. Also, specialized platforms coming from the telecoms that are enhanced with artificial intelligence- or AI- and machine language- or ML-based algorithms can offer predictive analytics services that will be in high demand very soon.
4. Asset Tracking
Another widespread use case of IoT for the telecom industry is the remote asset monitoring service. In various industries such as the transportation, retail, and healthcare industries, the locations of physical assets – orders, vehicles, and patients – should be monitored in real-time, preferably using a mobile app. This is where telecom operators can help: using their extended communications networks and leveraging cloud computing. In these ways, they can track the movement of assets through the collection of signals from embedded sensors and transmit these to industry-specific applications.
5. Platform as a Service and Software as a Service Solutions
Platform as a Service, more commonly known as PaaS, is another option that can bring revenue to the industry we are talking about. This can offer their IoT platforms based on the cloud with various tools to their customers so they can independently develop solutions. Thus, this becomes a useful service for clients as they use infrastructure and tools and do not have to worry about support and management.
Moreover, operators in the telecom industry can offer Software as a Service or SaaS apps customized according to the needs of various sectors. Some examples include a mobile healthcare application that can track blood sugar levels or a mobile transportation application for fleet tracking.
Therefore, these telecom companies using IoT can extend their services from standard connectivity to end-user applications specific to the industries. This is possible because of user data integration with the massive capabilities of the existing infrastructure in the telecom network.
Having said these, what are the values of IoT for the telecom industry? Read further.
The Values Of IoT For Telecoms
Without a doubt, IoT is the primary facilitator of the further development of the telecom industry and the extension of its abilities.
This technology adds value to the entire industry, offering the following advantages:
- Higher speed and expanded bandwidth
- Low latency
- Increased power efficiency
- New jobs
- Increased revenues
Options For Development
To get started leveraging the capabilities of IoT, telecom providers must develop an IoT cloud platform. However, where should they start? Well, here are two options.
First, develop a custom platform from scratch. Second, creating a platform based upon a publicly-available IoT cloud platform.
Know that creating your platform from the ground up is a long-lasting process. This requires monetary investment and a team of highly-experienced specialists such as cloud service development engineers. This is a reasonable option when you require a distinctive functionality that public platforms cannot ensure.
Building a telecom IoT platform based on ready-made publicly-available cloud platforms is ideal for many companies since this is less time-consuming and more cost-efficient. Without worrying about scalability, data security, and technical maintenance, you may use their tools, services, infrastructure, and pre-built functions. Yet, the only drawback is that the functionality is not as flexible as it is with custom development. Today, among the most recommended IoT platforms are Google Cloud IoT, Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, and Amazon AWS IoT Core.
The Future Of The Internet Of Things In The Telecommunications Industry Is Very Bright
To conclude our discussion, we will look at the future of IoT in the telecom industry. The opportunities for developing and implementing IoT technologies in this industry are promising. Of course, operators, developers, and end-users in the telecom industry need time to garner experience and accumulate expertise in this arena. Nevertheless, remember that investments will always pay off in the long run.
Companies in the telecom industry are predicted to promote their services in IoT across various industries, whether in medicine, agriculture, retail, and more, in the future. This technology will significantly gain a competitive advantage, optimize their performance, increase their service quality, and create more opportunities.