KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 2): Axiata Group Bhd (Axiata) and Atilze Digital Sdn Bhd (Atilze), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yen Global Bhd, is collaborating on the pursuit of Internet of Things opportunities in Southeast Asia, with a focus on connected car solutions and the commercialisation of city-wide long range (LoRA) network.

Under a one-year collaboration agreement inked today, the two will engage in trials, exploration, and development activities in the pursuit of the said IoT opportunities.

During the tenure, both Axiata and Atilze will jointly implement Proof-of-Concept (POC) pilots for connected cars and LoRa IoT network in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

The collaboration is also open to tie-ups with other stakeholders within the IoT ecosystem, who have ready-made IoT applications to integrate into Atilze’s LoRa network.

“We see huge opportunities for IoT applications and services across South and Southeast Asia. This is why Axiata is the natural partner of choice for Atilze, given the regional footprint and scale that Axiata has, as one of the leading telecommunications groups in the region.

"We have already started introducing our IoT solutions to the market through Axiata and its operating companies, as well as affiliates, and early results have been very encouraging,” said Gerald Lim, chief executive officer of Atilze, after the signing ceremony today.

Lim further added: “This is a very exciting time for us to partner with Axiata to carry out these IoT projects. I trust this partnership will deliver synergistic benefits to both Axiata and Atilze by leveraging on Axiata’s footprint across Asia, as well as Atilze’s focus as an IoT services and solutions provider. Together with Axiata, Atilze looks forward to deliver a positive impact to the lives of millions of people across Asia.”

In the collaboration, the use of LoRa network is the foundation of targeted IoT applications. LoRa, also known as long range, low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technology, provides a lower cost connectivity solution with broad coverage and lower energy consumption. LoRa also complements operators’ cellular 3G and 4G LTE networks.

Axiata group chief strategy officer Dominic Arena said, “As Axiata transforms itself into a new generation digital company, we intend to lead the digital revolution and embrace new growth opportunities throughout the digital economy. IoT is one key pillar of our ‘Axiata 3.0’ strategy and is an emerging digital services sector, estimated to be worth potentially US$30 billion by 2020 in Axiata’s current footprint alone, based on our own analysis of several independent forecasts."

He foresees the IoT sector to grow exponentially over the next two to five years, with greatest economic potential in the B2B and B2B2C segments, via the empowerment of enterprises and governments to digitize their own operations, and the provision of innovative, integrated connectivity and analytics-based solutions to their end customers and citizens.

In a statement, Atilze said IoT is a major springboard for much of Asia’s high growth digital economy strategy, and that independent studies have shown the Asia Pacific region is leading the world in IoT adoption, with total IoT spending in the region reaching over US$15 billion in 2016. It is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 35% over the next five years.

Atilze also recently partnered with Cyberview Sdn Bhd to build, operate and commercialise a LoRa network in Cyberjaya, that positions Cyberjaya as the first Southeast Asia smart city connected with a city-wide LoRa Network.