Vienna, Austria: As first reported by M2M Now on July 7th, 2011, the Telekom Austria Group has set up a new subsidiary company in the M2M field. The new company, the Telekom Austria Group M2M GmbH, acts as the competence and service centre of the Telekom Austria Group, focusing solely on the development and marketing of M2M services. Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of the Telekom Austria Group and A1 explains: “We are facing a very promising development of the M2M business. In a couple of years it will be absolutely common that cars, domestic appliances, service centres and applications are connected to each other online. In this framework of a highly innovative field of business we position ourselves as enabler of new business models.”
In the start-up phase, the new M2M subsidiary will concentrate on eight main application areas where M2M is of special importance: Automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, logistics and transportation, retail and payments, security and surveillance, industrial and smart business as well as energy and utilities.
“The Telekom Austria Group has been a long-standing and reliable partner for communications solutions in the business customer segment. We are now bundling our extensive know-how in terms of data communications and billing systems for a new emerging field of business,” explains Bernd Liebscher, Managing Director of the Telekom Austria Group M2M GmbH.
The Telekom Austria Group M2M GmbH will aim to provide in-depth M2M industry know-how along the entire value chain from product design to the implementation and operation of M2M solutions. The Telekom Austria Group’s operating markets in Central and Eastern Europe will provide the basis for the company’s Europewide sales and marketing activities. This new dedicated business unit is also responsible for steering and coordinating individual initiatives in the local companies.
“The Telekom Austria Group M2M GmbH wants to tap and leverage the high potential of M2M solutions jointly with its customers and business partners. Therefore, we offer a modular service portfolio that meets the most varied customer needs based on its high flexibility and scalability,” continues Liebscher. “Furthermore, the Telekom Austria Group M2M GmbH can rely on the best network coverage across its operational footprint and on an excellent network of international roaming partners.”
M2M communication is an emerging field of business at the beginning of a significant growth phase: Experts forecast that between 20 and 50 billion devices will be connected by 2020. “Machines are mainly connected via SIM cards. However, based on the development of new M2M applications, we will not only end up having one SIM card for our mobile phone, PC and tablet but a wide range of different cards built in the most varied devices for each user,” adds Liebscher.
Framework conditions will also have a positive impact on the development of M2M applications. On the one hand, declining unit costs for hardware along with increasingly refined and efficient service platforms are benefiting pricing schemes and, on the other, the current legal framework within the EU — for example, concerning smart metering and mandatory emergency call systems in new vehicles — are fostering innovations in the M2M business area. “M2M allows for an unprecedented range of applications for both retail and business customers, making it one of the most compelling topics of the entire ICT industry. Thus, the Telekom Austria Group M2M GmbH will actively shape these future developments,” Liebscher concludes.
