Mumbai, Oct 31 (PTI) British telecom giant Vodafonetoday said it is witnessing up to 180 per cent growth in SIMcards used for internet of things (IoT) devices in the countryon a smaller base.
Its solutions are being used to serve diverse segmentslike smart tractors and earthmovers, its country head SunilSood told repoters here.
"Even in India, these numbers are zooming up. We aregrowing at about 150-180 per cent a year. Yes, the numbers aresmall and the market is emerging," Sood, the managing directorand chief executive for the second largest telco, which is setto merge with smaller rival Idea Cellular, said.
The company is also working on the smart cars segment,he said, without divulging the client names.
Globally, it has 60 million SIM cards, which have beensold to be used for IoT solutions. IoT is an emergingtechnology wherein devices are connected and capable of'speaking' to each other. It can be noted that the smartcities initiative of the government will use a lot of IoTsolutions, which global vendors are keenly eyeing.
Sood was speaking on the sidelines of a company event,where it launched a new brand positioning in India, after thesimilar launch at the global level earlier this month.
The company refused to quantify the spends on thecampaign in the country, but hinted that a lot of focus willbe on the digital media.
When asked if the impending merger will have anybearing on the new identity campaign, its India chiefoperating officer Balesh Sharma hinted that both the brandswill continue to operate even after the merger for the nearfuture.
He, however, added that the merger is not yet through.
Sood later told reporters that the merger is on trackand the process of approvals is moving as per expectations.
PTI AANP.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.