Rise of the Machines: Bridge Alliance links 500m M2M subscribers in Asia

Here's what you need to know.

According to a release, 11 leading Asia Pacific mobile operators today form the region’s largest Machine-to-Machine (M2M) alliance to offer a ‘one-stop-shop’ experience for M2M deployment across the Asia Pacific region. Bridge M2M Alliance is a centre of excellence for M2M services and solutions to attract partnerships and provide customers with an end-to-end M2M regional capability.

Bridge M2M Alliance comprises members of Bridge Alliance and is made up of Airtel (India), AIS (Thailand), CSL (Hong Kong), Globe Telecom (Philippines), Maxis (Malaysia), MobiFone (Vietnam), Optus (Australia), SingTel (Singapore), SK Telecom (South Korea), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan) and Telkomsel (Indonesia). Together, the group serves a combined base of over 500 million subscribers, making it the largest M2M alliance in the Asia Pacific region.

Bridge M2M Alliance eliminates the complexity of dealing with multiple operators by offering seamless delivery of regional M2M services across geographical borders. The Alliance will also improve customers’ service experience through enhanced interoperability, service levels and customer support.

Mr Alessandro Adriani, CEO of Bridge Alliance, noted: “Asia Pacific is made up of highly varied economies, uneven technological development and diversified regulatory requirements. As a result, multinational businesses find it extremely difficult to navigate the intricacies of the region and to fully capitalise on economies of scale. The evolution of Bridge Alliance in the M2M business is an indication of the commitment from the 11 operators to overcome these challenges for the success of customers’ businesses.”

The Bridge M2M partnership covers commercial as well as technological cooperation across various industries such as vehicle telemetry, security and energy management. This enables the development of new business models, creation of new products and services and reduction in customers’ operational costs. The alliance is determined to build an innovative ecosystem by partnering technology players in the M2M value chain like application developers, module manufacturers and service providers.

Mr Zia Zaman, Vice President, Emerging Businesses and Strategy, SingTel Group Enterprise said: “M2M is an important emerging technology that is enabling exciting new business models and operating efficiencies. This alliance is further evidence that telcos are adapting their approach and business processes to suit M2M innovators' needs. As a leading M2M provider, SingTel is proud to be part of this alliance that will deliver the simplicity of a connected network for M2M deployment into the Asia Pacific region.”

Alliance members will cooperate to secure significant commercial benefits and economies of scale for customers and enable joint product development initiatives. Being key operators in their respective countries, they are well placed to leverage and support multinational companies hoping to ride on Asia’s growth, as well as Asian companies looking to expand globally.