Security Risk
South African Enterprises
Changing Lives
This brings new opportunities , for example : smart water metering , which has no power source , and smart parking monitoring , which could be in lower basement parking bays where cellular connectivity tends to be very weak .
We will see an extension of battery life to over 10 years , enabling the monitoring of many things – which was previously not possible due to power source limitations .
Through the improved coverage and increase in the number of devices supported within a cell , NB-IoT allows us to connect the billions of things around the world that analysts have been predicting for years .
Security Risk
Having many things connected across the Internet becomes a potential security risk , though , as this opens targets for attackers . Many LPWAN technologies leave security up to the integrator to implement , and in others the details are still unclear .
As NB-IoT is based on an approved standard , security is integrated into the network layer – ensuring it is covered at every level in the ecosystem .
South African Enterprises
What does NB-IoT mean for South Africa and local enterprise ? Over the past year , we have seen significant growth in the number of things which are connected to the Internet . In the second half of 2016 , Vodacom reported a 27.7 % increase in our IoT base – growing to 2.6 million .
The new NB-IoT technology will benefit faster deployment , more effective connectivity , and better suitability for the types of use cases that we are building to optimally connect things – including cold chain , smart asset management , and connected agriculture .
One of the key questions that remains is how NB- IoT will be monetised . Put simply , the monetisation potential lies largely in services . There is accelerated growth coming from utilities – mainly driven by the need to better manage electricity and water supply , as an example .
We face significant socio-economic challenges in South Africa , which includes the availability of electricity , water , and security . As a result , we are seeing growth rates in the utilities sector , such as smart metering .
In the health sector , NB-IoT technology supports the wider delivery of basic healthcare services in rural areas . An example of this is Vodacom ’ s Stock Visibility Solution , an IoT platform developed and deployed in rural clinics to manage the process to reduce drug stock-outs .
This solution is now used in over 3,000 South African clinics and we are in the process of deploying it in harder-to-reach areas across the continent , including Mozambique , Tanzania , and Nigeria .
Changing Lives
Mobile technology has changed people ’ s lives . Imagine the next step in terms of billions of things being connected , communicating with each other and other objects , spaces , and places – improving our lives without us being aware of them .
NB-IoT technology will accelerate the adoption of IoT and will fast-track the number of devices which will be connected . It will also accelerate new use cases , creating new industries and value propositions .
Studies have shown that 70 % of IoT opportunities lie in enterprise . In South Africa and Africa , an opportunity exists in connecting urban areas and communities . We are going to increasingly see local and regional municipalities looking to technology to help them solve their current challenges .
Vodafone ’ s 2016 IoT Barometer Report shows that South African business leaders feel more confident about the benefits of IoT , seeing it as strategicallyimportant in terms of their sustainability .
This means the local economy is positive about the adoption of this technology and what it can offer . A rapid deployment of LPWANs like the NB-IoT network Vodacom is deploying , combined with communication modules becoming more affordable , will transform value chains for goods and services , supporting economic growth in South Africa . ■
“ In the past , ecosystems and the Internet were built for people : we are now building and orchestrating an entire new ecosystem for things , to improve human lives .”
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