When it comes to carriers, Tele2 is often ahead of the curve. I recently spoke with Rami Avidan, the Head of Tele2 M2M Global Solutions, and came to learn that the company’s strategy. Tele2's footprint includes Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Croatia, and Kazakhstan. The company does have roaming agreements around the world so they can support their customer’s global requirements and is looking to enable the market and not compete with their system integrators and their ecosystem. The result is that they are device agnostic and partner friendly.
Previously, Rami was the CEO of Wyless and gained a great understanding of the reason MVNO’s were in the M2M market. In effect, the MVNOs were needed to buffer the system integrator from the carrier’s support system. Using Jasper Wireless as its support system, it can provide horizontal connectivity in a neutral manner which allows maximum flexibility.
Enabling markets for Tele2 has put the focus on opportunities such as automotive, healthcare, smart cities and smart homes rather than having services that compete with integrators.
Tele2 is working with partners to address the market and while the partners are often prime, Tele2 M2M Global can be the lead. Regardless of where the contract came from, Tele2 project management, engineering and support are always the same.
This includes support of various device manufacturers such as Netcomm and Telit - which means their ecosystem can also choose to use Tele2 for services.
The latest partnership with L&T Technology Services focuses on transportation and fleet management. Transportation includes: Auto, Aero, Rail, Shipping, Off Highway and specialized vehicles. While track and trace would be one benefit here, another is the remote monitoring of engine performance and maintenance record management.
These partnerships - where the integrator knows the customers’ requirements and the carrier knows the connectivity aspect - make for a better understanding of responsibilities. As Rami notes, “Our different expertise can influence the transportation industry to become even more efficient and cost conscious with new business models.”
Edited by
Stefania Viscusi
