Telco firms told to offer more ‘M2M’ solutions

“There will be opportunities … in almost all M2M segments,” Jim Morrish, director for Machina Research, said in an e-mail last week, noting that most of such wired and wireless applications between machines do not require a lot of bandwidth. “Clearly, Philippine telecoms companies will need to invest to manage traffic from mobile broadband type solutions (dongles, tablets, etc.) But beyond that, the additional requirements to support M2M applications will mostly be limited,” Mr. Morrish said. Mr. Morrish said mobile connections are expected to rise to 135 million in 2020 from 80 million today. “There is a lot more value in the products and services wrapped around a connection than in the connection itself, and the best way to realise that value is through partnership,” he added. “The advice to telecom operators in the Philippines is the same as in many other markets: partner with specialists in different industry sectors to develop successful solutions,” he said. Sought for comment, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. said the firm is already beefing up its M2M solutions portfolio. “We are already building the business in that direction,” Ramon R. Isberto, PLDT spokesperson, said in a telephone interview on Friday. “We have specific applications for different enterprises and our corporate business group is the one developing the applications,” he added. One of the M2M applications PLDT offers is the PLDT Guardian, which provides security by allowing owners or managers to connect and monitor company facilities from a remote location. “We are exploring and will be exploring in the near future,” Mr. Isberto said. Ayala-led Globe Telecom, Inc. also offers M2M solutions, such as for monitoring company facilities from a different location.