Vodafone leads Spain in IoT connectivity, with the rapid rollout of 5G moving forward to boost latency and response times. This technological advance is accelerating the deployment of digital lines that connect and enable interaction among millions of devices. Vodafone is accelerating its growth in this strategic telecom and technology sector, strengthening its leadership with more than 6.5 million active lines in the Spanish market, adding over 1.6 million new connections just in the past year.
Vodafone Spain is strengthening its position in this segment through a collaboration with Aqualia, the water supply and treatment company controlled by FCC at 51 percent and the Australian fund IFM at 49 percent. The joint initiative will provide Internet of Things connectivity for the water cycle over the next ten years, digitalizing the entire water management process, as announced during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the global stage for mobile technology that week.
The telecommunications company will supply NB-IoT connections, ideal for low data transfer, to Aqualia’s water meters with the aim of delivering one million connections in the first five years of the contract. Vodafone has already connected over 250,000 of Aqualia’s meters in about a year and a half, and now plans to greatly extend those numbers over the coming decade.
FUNDING FOR EUROPEAN PROJECTS
Aqualia is working within the Strategic Project for Recovery and Economic Transformation in the digitalization of the water cycle with support from European Recovery Plan funds. In the coming years, the company aims to offer remote reading services to more than three million customers across Spain.
The program seeks to modernize the city water cycle to improve efficiency, reduce losses in distribution systems, and upgrade wastewater treatment infrastructure. The funding line managed by the Ministry for Ecological Transition in this second call amounts to 200 million euros, with a forecast to mobilize another 1.7 billion euros of Next Generation funds in the coming years.
“Managing water use in Spain is a constant challenge of vital importance. Through this contract, our most advanced technology is put to work for Aqualia to help conserve natural resources and improve water efficiency,” notes Daniel Barallat, head of IoT at Vodafone Spain.
IoT for Water
Vodafone has developed the Vodafone Water Metering solution to digitize household and business consumption readings using smart connected devices and subsequent data analytics. Vodafone and Aqualia are piloting this application in Vigo to advance water meter tele-reading, detect fraud and leaks, and forecast consumption patterns for users.
This is not Vodafone’s first major IoT contract in the water sector. The company won 25 million euros as the largest of four lots in a contract for Canal de Isabel II to acquire water meters with NB-IoT connectivity and telecom services for automated reading. The contract covers the supply of 315,000 water meters and the deployment of IoT connectivity over the next five years.
Beyond water management, Vodafone already integrates IoT across other sectors such as security and connected alarms, banking through payments, logistics operators, connected vehicle fleets, renewable energy, agriculture, smart city management, waste management, the electrical sector, and elder care services.