Telefónica ranks among the three global leading providers in both “Hyperscale IoT Connectivity” and “Vertical” capabilities, according to the Communications Service Provider IoT Peer Benchmarking Report 2021.Transforma Insights assesses the connectivity capabilities of the world’s top twelve IoT communications service providers and how prepared they are to advance their business and scale to become massive IoT connectivity providers capable of supporting hundreds of millions of devices in a quick, flexible and cost-effective way.

Transforma Insights says in its report that the recent inclusion  of the IoT business within Telefónica Tech “provides for greater integration with big data and cloud capabilities, as well as providing for more flexibility of business model and in M&A”.

The report identifies Telefónica’s capabilities in networks, platforms and verticals. It highlights an ambitious strategy in the deployment of LPWA technologies (including NB-IoT and LTE-M), especially in South America, where almost no other operators have moved yet. It also identifies some good wins in private 5G: “Currently the focus is on-premises deployments, based on customer demand. Telefónica’s aspiration is to move that to focus more on the ‘private telco edge’, allowing for greater efficiency and flexibility in delivering additional services. It will also be more scalable for expanding to smaller clients”.

Transforma Insights explains “Telefónica has a strong set of IoT platforms with a particular focus on cloud integration”. It highlights Kite platform (Telefónica in-house connectivity platform), solutions focused on specific verticals including fleet and energy sectors, and other platforms such as Smart Steps (focused on movement analytics using network data), the Smart Digits user data platform, the Thinking Cities smart city platform and TrustOS (blockchain platform).

A further section of the report examines other vertical and horizontal capabilities, noting that Telefónica’s solutions and services are focusing in five main areas (mobility management, industry 5.0, utilities, eco solutions and smart spaces) and recognizing also the portfolio of Big Data capabilities, including a multi-cloud infrastructure, a rich set of data tools and data-driven analysis.

According to Gonzalo Martín-Villa, CEO of IoT and Big Data at Telefónica Tech, “IoT technologies are fundamental for business transformation because they help to make better decisions by merging the physical and digital world. At Telefónica Tech we continue to evolve our portfolio with comprehensive IoT solutions that also include additional capabilities, such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. The analysis also points out that Telefónica has more than 10,000 IoT customers for whom it manages more than 40 million connections over different technologies (cellular 2G/3G/4G/5G/NB-IoT/LTE-M, fixed, satellite, etc.) in more than 150 countries.