Telefónica creates the first virtual mobile operator to connect millions of objects

Telefónica Tech has created the first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to promote the Internet of Things (IoT) business, with a proposal specifically designed for a market that will host tens of millions of connections in the coming years. According to the census of telecommunications operators of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), the technological subsidiary of Telefónica registered the new telecommunications operator last summer, with the name Telefónica IoT & Big Data Tech and with two Activities: Provider of Virtual Mobile Operator services and provider of packet and circuit data switching, for the data transmission business.

The new OMV operates in low-frequency networks, almost entirely for the use of narrowband communications or NB-IoT (narrowband IoT). This type of connection requires very little capacity and speed in data transmission, but requires extraordinarily low energy consumption. In this way, transfers can barely reach 250 kbit/s, with latencies of up to 10 seconds. In exchange for this low capacity and speed, these narrowband networks reach very extensive penetrations, ideal in areas of difficult access, underground and for devices equipped with batteries (such as water consumption meters) capable of operating without electrical recharging for up to 10 years. followed.

As you have been able to find out elEconomista.es From sources familiar with the situation, Telefónica’s new MVNO expects to attract the thousand customers who currently work in IoT activities with Telefónica Spain. The company’s objective is to grow this line of business with double-digit annual increases, in line with the evolution enjoyed by the Tech subsidiary since its creation at the end of 2019. With this commercial proposal, Telefónica Tech targets the business market to help its clients in the digital transformation of businesses, from the installation of sensors to the value extracted by data analytics.

In the coming months, Telefónica Tech will encourage its customers to migrate their IoT lines from Telefónica Spain (or also from other competing operators) to their new virtual operator. Telefónica Tech’s mobile connectivity will come from Telefónica Spain, which will provide the cellular network and technological platform for customer management. Like any other MVNO, Telefónica Tech has agreed a wholesale price with the parent company for the provision, just as it does with other virtual mobile operators.

Telefónica’s commitment represents a milestone in the Spanish virtual mobile subsector, which until now did not have a company specialized in the connectivity of objects.

Given the near saturation of the market in terms of mobile lines and fixed broadband, the IoT business is managed in an environment of extraordinary strength. Market estimates suggest that in 2025 there will be more than 40,000 million connected objects, largely due to the push of 5G connections, as well as the digitization of industries and the unstoppable sensorization of homes.

Millions of sensors are also incorporated into public infrastructures, smart cities and all kinds of roads. The last frontier of the IoT will be the human body itself, which in the coming years will be the foreseeable destination of multiple sensors.

A recent report by Transforma Insights, entitled “Communications Service Providers IoT Peer Benchmarking 2020”, highlights Telefónica Tech on the podium of world leaders in the Internet of Things business, with a prominent position in terms of global reach and capacity to deployment, with 24.3 million IoT connections at the end of June 2020. The same firm values ​​Telefónica’s “commercial aggressiveness” in LPWA technologies, deploying both NB-IoT and LTE-M in Europe, as well as in Latin America, where almost no other operator has moved yet.”

Agreement with Twitter

Telefónica announced yesterday that Movistar Plus+ has added the Twitter Living App to its entertainment catalogue. That way, users will be able to see the best Twitter videos on the big screen in the room. The Living Apps are exclusive content for those Movistar Plus+ customers who have Desco UHD. So far, the platform already has content from Fortnite, TikTok, Rakuten, Atlético de Madrid or the British Council. This announcement will be detailed along with the news that Telefónica will share with visitors to the great mobile world fair, the MWC in Barcelona. Teleco sources recall that this incorporation of Twitter video content in Movistar Plus+ marks a new milestone in the collaboration between both companies with the aim of integrating the best of Twitter in different formats.