The Telekom Austria Group announced this week that it has set up a new subsidiary dedicated to machine-to-machine communications. Simply called the Telekom Austria Group M2M, it will focus solely on the development and marketing of M2M services.
“We are facing a very promising development of the M2M business," said Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of the Telekom Austria Group. “In a couple of years it will be absolutely common, that cars, domestic appliances, service centers and applications are connected to each other online. In this framework of a highly innovative field of business we position ourselves as enabler of new business models."
The new M2M subsidiary will begin by concentrating on eight main application areas: automotive, consumer electronics, health care, logistics and transportation, retail and payments, security and surveillance, industrial and smart business as well as energy and utilities.
Telekom Austria says its M2M Group will provide its customers with in-depth industry know-how along the entire value chain, from product design to the implementation and operation of solutions. The company’s operating markets in Central and Eastern Europe will provide the basis for the company’s Europe-wide sales and marketing activities. This newly dedicated business unit is also responsible for steering and coordinating individual initiatives in the local companies.
“The Telekom Austria Group M2M GmbH wants to tap and leverage the high potential of M2M solutions jointly with its customers and business partners. Therefore, we offer a modular service portfolio that meets the most varied customer needs based on its high flexibility and scalability," said Bernd Liebscher, managing director of the Telekom Austria Group M2M. “Furthermore, [we] can rely on the best network coverage across [our] operational footprint and on an excellent network of international roaming partners."
Forecasts put the number of devices connected by 2020 at somewhere between 20 and 50 billion.
“Machines are mainly connected via SIM cards. However, based on the development of new M2M applications, we will not only end up having one SIM card for our mobile phone, PC and tablet but a wide range of different cards built in the most varied devices for each user," added Liebscher.
