Finnish telecommunications firm Nokia has announced that it has signed a MoU with Singaporean telecommunications operator Star-Hub in a collective effort to drive innovation in the technologically-driven country.
The two companies believe their partnership can drive innovation in Singapore by deploying commercial Internet of Things services across the country. It has been disclosed that their strategic collaboration will focus on IoT use cases and applications in areas such as connected living, connected vehicles and connected buildings.
In addition to this, it has been reported that the commercial services will be made available to customers from the first quarter of 2018. This latest alliance is indicative of the current climate within the industry with more and more operators and vendors merging together to accelerate the development and deployment of IoT services.
It has also been suggested that this new initiative between Nokia and Star-Hub will help Singaporean enterprises discover and capitalize on Smart Nation opportunities and capabilities that can ultimately propel their business.
The CEO of the Enterprise Business Group at StarHub, Dr. Chong Yoke Sin said they would leverage Nokia's expertise and knowledge to deploy IoT services that would transform urban challenges that need to be urgently addressed.
Dr. Yoke Sin said, "A large component of Singapore's Smart Nation initiative involves the deployment of IoT devices in the environment, including in the home, along streets and in parks, and in offices. The granular data derived from these sensors will allow enterprise customers to understand and gain insights from their customers, improving operational efficiencies and aid in long-term planning. We will leverage Nokia's IoT technology to help address urban challenges faced by our government and commercial customers. We also look forward to building viable business models on this nascent technology."
Nokia said it was relishing the opportunity to help the telco and its partners in their development for smart parking, environmental sensors and video analytics. It was also disclosed that Nokia Bell would also provide Star-Hub and its enterprise customers with consultancy services.
Head of Nokia's Asia south market unit, Nicolas Bouverot expressed his delight at the MoU agreement and reiterated Nokia's commitment to the Internet of Things. He said, "We are honored to be working with Star-Hub to help maximize the gains from the vast potential of IoT. We are committed to supporting service providers in IoT to gain new customers and add new revenue streams. Nokia is at the forefront of the evolution of IoT, and our insights will enable Star-Hub to build and deploy high-value services and business models."