Telstra gears up for $1 billion M2M market

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 28 September 2010 00:00

IT Industry - Strategy

Telstra is making a big push into the machine-to-machine communications market; one that it says is worth $300m today and will be worth in excess of $1b in four years time.

It has launched a service that enables organisations wanting to incorporate Telstra SIMs into M2M devices to do so at minimal cost until these are activated by the end user, and to manage and monitor these SIMs via a web portal.

The actual service is being provided by Jasper Wireless, a US based company that operates the system under a software-as-a-service model for carriers around the world.

This system, branded the Telstra Wireless M2M Control Centre, will be offered in conjunction with a portal for M2M device manufacturers and service providers offering a suite of services including a developer kit, troubleshooting resources and an avenue to enable developers to offer their M2M solutions to Telstra's sales channels.

Mike Cihra, director wireless business applications in Telstra, said: "we want to have the lead role in machine-to-machine over the next couple of years. We see this opportunity as being very significant financially. Right now in Australia is it worth about $300m and we expect it to go north of $1b over the next four years."

However, he added: "The market is not without its challenges. In data terms it is very low ARPU for the operator, and it is very fragmented: we have billion dollar enterprises and four or five man software companies busy writing inventory and logistics software so that vending machines can send information back."

Even though M2M services do not generate significant ARPUs for operators, Cihra said: "M2M providers want to have a seamless connectivity experience. So what we need to offer them a self-service platform that enables them to self-manage their services, activate a SIM themselves in real time, and have visibility that this has happened." This, he said is the role that the Jasper Wireless platform will fulfil.

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