The Internet of Things (IoT) solutions are no longer the novelties they were only a few years ago; thanks to the digital boom, they have become ubiquitous telecommunications necessities that are constantly improved and upgraded.
Many companies are turning to the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to improve workplace productivity and safety. Similarly, implementing IoT in telecom firms can improve business operations while increasing revenue.
According to Berg Insight, a specialist IoT analyst company, 3.74 billion IoT devices will be connected to mobile networks across the globe by 2025, creating tremendous opportunities for telecom carriers. Another study finds that the Internet of Things has the potential to generate $1.8 trillion in revenue for mobile network providers by 2026.
Telecom businesses should develop innovative ways to take advantage of these new revenue prospects. We can expect a shift in telecom service providers’ roles in facilitating interaction between humans and machines due to the Internet of Things. As a result, to improve business operations, telcos must offer new IoT-powered solutions to their customers.
Opportunities With IoT for the Telecom Industry
Telecoms may expand their service offerings with IoT-enabled industrial automation, home automation, smart city, car, asset tracking, smart retail, and more.
To actualize these IoT capabilities, we advise telecom firms to establish an IoT platform for their users to link end-point devices to central control and execute desired IoT applications. Telecoms should develop an IoT platform on an open, modular design with secure APIs between components.
Offering IoT software and services with varying degrees of involvement in solution and service delivery is possible thanks to a modular process for architecture design that includes the following.
End-To-End Business Solutions
Telecom businesses provide SaaS applications to help their customers tackle specific business problems, such as fleet tracking.
Backend Business Solutions
Telecom providers provide a back end that can store, manage, and process data created by IoT devices and perform sophisticated and straightforward analytics on it. Customers of Telecoms can use APIs to connect to the back end and integrate it with their existing corporate applications.
Data Analytics and Data Science Services
For their customers to derive value from the data provided by IoT devices, telecom firms offer prescriptive, descriptive, predictive, and diagnostic data analytics services.
IoT Data Storage and Management Services
Telecom providers are responsible for archiving, sorting, cleansing, and interpreting their customers’ IoT-generated data while an enterprise application runs on the customer side.
IoT Connectivity Services
Telecom carriers support customers’ IoT infrastructures by delivering managed connectivity services centered on the NB-IoT protocol. At the same time, data created by IoT devices is saved and handled on the customers’ side.
We propose accompanying the IoT platform with an end-user application that allows easy access to reports and projections for telecommunications’ top management, marketing, R&D, and other relevant departments to enable monitoring of usage statistics of IoT services and solutions.
3 Ways IoT Is Changing the Telecom Sector
We can understand how dramatically the world has transformed in just two decades if we consider that IoT first appeared in 1999 as part of the surge in radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. You can expect IoT to impact the telecom sector in the following 3 ways in 2022 and beyond.
Data-Driven Expansion
The telecoms industry has played a significant role in our metamorphosis into IoT technology consumers. There is no indication that IoT technology will have a lesser impact on telecoms in the future. The Internet of Things widens the world of telecoms with everything from wearable technologies to intelligent devices that talk to one other.
The customers’ desire for better connectivity between the outer world and their private lives will drive the continued expansion. Alexa receiving a request for products/services through a smart TV or mobile phone, organizing payment via the consumer’s bank, and then transporting the item to the home by Amazon drones is a small example of the consumer demand for this hands-free ease.
Low Power WAN
IoT allows telcos to provide energy-efficient machine-to-machine connectivity. Telecom firms commonly use GSM and Wi-Fi for machine-to-machine communication. These network systems need a lot of bandwidth and electricity. As a result, telecoms can operate low-power WANs, which are radio-based and consume less power.
Telecom carriers can provide Low-power WAN in IoT devices for various applications. For instance, low-power WAN can link IoT sensors in fields for intelligent agriculture. With the assistance of low-power WAN, telecoms can employ smart sensors in parking systems. Likewise, telecom companies can create new sources of revenue in the IoT sector by developing IoT-based products and services.
Equipment Monitoring
Auxiliary infrastructure such as energy meters, UPS, generators, and other items and significant communications equipment are housed in remote cell towers to ensure seamless telecom operations. Such equipment necessitates a solid power backup to achieve 24/7 availability.
Additionally, companies must check telecom equipment regularly for maintenance purposes, such as identifying possible regions of equipment failure. Telecom firms may experience significant outages due to equipment failure, resulting in long-term revenue and reputation losses.
The use of IoT in telecom firms can allow for real-time infrastructure monitoring. Telecom companies can utilize an IoT-enabled Tower Operations Center to link on-site IoT systems with cloud-based analytics to gather and interpret information from cell towers.
Telecom companies can use this strategy to track essential performance indicators of active and passive infrastructure at remote locations. Hence, the introduction of IoT allows telecom firms to minimize operational and maintenance expenses and assure more effective power management.
Final Word
The Internet of Things and the telecommunications sector is genuinely complementary. Emerging IoT technologies such as Big Data and 5G enable telecom access to reap significant benefits, including a technological and network update.
The industry is focusing on developing competence in technologies and monetizing IoT connectivity. IoT has matured to the point where it can support telecom and turn it into the most significant market globally.
Author Bio
Jyoti Saini is a Technical Lead at Programmers.io and likes studying/researching tech news for recent innovations and upgrades. Saini has been associated with the market for half a decade now and aspires to present complex tech innovations in a simple format for readers online.
