Vodacom’s IoT partnership to improve asset management – MyBroadband

Vodacom is in discussions with the government regarding a public-private sector partnership to modernise asset management using Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

This was revealed by Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean MacPherson following a meeting with Vodacom executives.

MacPherson said he held discussions with Vodacom CEO Sitho Mdlalose about driving telecoms investment in South Africa.

“Sitho and the minister discussed existing contractual projects between Vodacom and the Department of Public Works,” Vodacom told MyBroadband.

These discussions aim to modernise the government’s asset management using IoT solutions and continued infrastructure investments.

Vodacom expanded its Internet of Things (IoT) business when it acquired a 51% equity interest in IoT.nxt in August 2019.

Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said the acquisition would help the mobile operator enhance its IoT offering.

“Our investment in IoT.nxt will accelerate Vodacom’s Internet of Things strategy and bring a number of advantages to our existing IoT capability,” he said at the time.

“It will allow us to better orchestrate the information obtained from sensors and edge devices and further scale our IoT business across multiple verticals.”

Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyati recently revealed that Eskom has awarded a tender to IoT.nxt to help secure its coal stocks. It addresses three streams:

• Coal delivered via conveyor belts directly to power plants.
• Coal delivered via rail to Eskom.
• Coal delivered to power stations using trucks.

Organised criminal elements have targeted Eskom’s coal supply chain for years, rerouting deliveries destined for power stations to ports and smuggling the resource out of the country.

To avoid detection, trucks deliver loads of poor-quality coal mixed with rocks to power stations, often causing damage and increasing plant breakdowns.

IoT.nxt’s system tracks coal’s movement from the mine to the Eskom power station, detecting deviations from the planned routes and related problems.

“By the end of the year, the new coal automation system will be implemented at all Eskom’s power stations,” he said.

“That should eliminate the problems associated with criminal elements stealing coal and delivering poor coal instead.”

Most recently, the National Treasury included Vodacom in a transversal contract for smart water and electricity metering solutions, along with six other companies, including MTN and Sigfox.

The smart metering system tender entails creating an automated meter reader system, a meter data collector, a management dashboard, and the system’s support and maintenance.