MTN Business has announced the launch of the first pan-African Internet of Things (IoT) platform
The move represents the next step in the evolutionary process of connecting and managing machines, according to the company, which said the aim was to allow African businesses greater control over their connected devices and sim cards.
The platform – currently operational in South Africa, with MTN’s other African markets set to follow over the coming year – will enable networked devices to exchange information and respond intelligently to their environments, without the need for human intervention.
MTN said this will remove cost-related barriers to accessibility, allowing for broader development and the establishment of a vast ecosystem of scalable solutions to address real world needs.
“To ensure a seamless customer experience for our customers, wherever MTN has presence, the IoT platform has a dedicated network, separate from the consumer network, for operational and business systems support,” said MTN Group CEO Mteto Nyati. “As a result, the platform is dedicated to managing all MTN’s machine-to-machine functions.”
The launch also involved the introduction of a global machine-to-machine (M2M) sim card, giving customers the same uniform rate for M2M activity across the firm’s African footprint.
