Ericsson and Dialog Axiata bag ‘IoT Initiative of the Year’ award at Global Telecoms Awards 2018

Ericsson and Dialog bagged the coveted ‘IoT Initiative of the Year’ award at the annual Global Telecoms Awards (GLOTEL) on 8 November in London. 

The award was bestowed by GLOTEL for the successful roll-out of South Asia’s first commercial Massive IoT network supporting both Cat-M1 and Nb-IoT technologies, earlier this year. With cellular IoT expected to reach an estimated 3.5 billion connections in 2023, the power of Massive IoT will be harnessed to accelerate a connected-life and digitise industries. 

The Massive IoT deployment will enable Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC to accelerate the use and adoption of IoT devices, advancing the ecosystem across Sri Lanka. Dialog has initiated trials for IoT enabled smart electricity meters, power distribution monitoring systems, smart greenhouse for agriculture, smart garbage bins and smart weather solutions.

Ericsson Managing Director/Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives Vinod Samarawickrama said: “It is a great honour to receive the ‘IoT Initiative of the Year’ award at the Global Telecoms Awards for South Asia’s first Commercial Massive IoT Network. This award is a testament of strategic collaboration between Dialog and Ericsson’s vision to empower the lives of Sri Lankan Enterprises as well as consumers via leading technology.”

Dialog Axiata PLC Group Chief Technology Officer Pradeep De Almeida said: “Dialog has always been at the forefront of introducing new technology and value to empower Sri Lankan enterprises and consumers. The award recognises our innovation efforts on a global sphere and the use cases provide great reference for other regions to follow South Asia’s lead.” He added “We look forward to unleashing the business potential of IoT in partnership with Ericsson.”

Through the partnership, Ericsson successfully activated Massive IoT RAN software for Dialog’s existing LTE installed base. This enables the end-users gain access to a superior network with wider coverage and longer battery life whilst enterprises will significantly benefit from the cost and productivity enhancements via IoT technology.

Expanding South Asia’s digital footprint, Ericsson was also involved in organising technology workshops and IoT deep-dive sessions for Dialog Axiata. The future roadmap includes launching Sri Lanka’s first Innovation Centre for 5G and IoT use case development. IoT and 5G collaboratively will be the growth engine for innovation and customer experience, fuelling new business models and revenue streams for industries embracing the technology.