The two companies say the solution will help to increase micro-mobility in cities.

“With global SIMs supplied by Arkessa, Voi can easily provision and activate scooters and manage its fleet of connected scooters worldwide, regardless of their location,” a joint statement said.

Arkessa is powered by Ericsson IoT Accelerator for connectivity management and is the communication service provider partner to Ericsson.

The companies say the global partnership with Ericsson enables the operator to offer powerful automation features on the Ericsson IoT Accelerator platform, including market-leading IoT security and global coverage.

“Arkessa's global connectivity offers Voi the flexibility to deploy its growing fleet of e-scooters in a broad range of countries while minimising costs and optimising coverage,” the companies said.

“During the lifetime of an e-scooter, one single SIM can connect to different service providers without the need for physical replacements, offering significant cost savings in fleet management. Voi gains full global connectivity management benefits powered by Ericsson IoT Accelerator.”

According to the companies, enterprises are increasingly taking advantage of cellular IoT to derive new revenue streams and improve operational cost-efficiency, with Ericsson estimating that the number of cellular IoT connections will grow nearly 3.5 times from 1.7 billion in 2020 to 5.9 billion in 2026.

Andrew Orrock, CEO at Arkessa, says: "Voi is a true pioneer of connected micro-mobility solutions and is committed to helping cities meet their 2030 climate goals. Arkessa is absolutely delighted to have been selected as their cellular connectivity partner to support their global expansion.

“With more than 50 percent of the world's population living in cities, Voi's vision of creating cities for living will change the urban landscape for the better and we are so excited to be a part of it."

Fredrik Hjelm, CEO and co-founder of Voi, says, "We are excited to work with Arkessa to provide superior IoT connectivity in our scooters and ensure an even higher level of service for our riders and partner cities.”

“By leveraging Arkessa's secure and resilient global network connectivity, Voi can continue to deliver fast, reliable e-scooter services as we expand into new markets and roll out our next-generation vehicles and IoT hardware."

"Realising smart cities is closer than ever. Micro-mobility solutions powered by high-speed cellular connectivity make city mobility more flexible and sustainable,” says Åsa Tamsons, Head of Business Area Technologies and New Businesses at Ericsson.

“We are excited to see Voi choose our award-winning IoT Accelerator platform to create the agility needed to scale up their global operations. Global, reliable, and secure connectivity plays a pivotal role in helping new industries grow and contribute to connecting our cities."