Vodacom’s IoT division now connects ‘three million things’ in South Africa

Hot on the heels of MTN Business’s Internet of Things (IoT) network announcement, Vodacom revealed that its IoT division is now connecting more than “three million ‘things'” across South Africa.

Deon Liebenberg, the managing exec of Vodacom’s IoT division explained that this is a clear indication of the growth of IoT and related technologies in the country.

“It’s worth noting that it took us eight years to get to two million connections and it took us only one year to get to three million,” he explained.

“The rate of IoT adoption is picking up speed locally and with the commercial rollout of NarrowBand-IoT (NB-IoT), this is only going to accelerate even faster,” he added in a press release.

The company also noted that it’s seeing 55 000 new connections per month, while it recently opened an NB-IoT laboratory at its Vodacom World Campus in Midrand, Johannesburg.

In an email to Memeburn, Liebenberg confirmed that the company’s IoT network — which it began building in 2016 — is “executing according to plan”.

The executive also confirmed that additional IoT technologies like LoRaWAN and Cat M1 will also be supported on a “customer demand basis”.

“We continually reassess our approach in terms of other low power technologies,” he added.