UNLIMIT: Transforming Enterprise Towards Digital

Reliance becomes the first telco in India to set up a dedicated and integrated IoT business unit, UNLIMIT to target $15 billion digital enterprise market by 2020.

Globally, 29 billion connected devices are forecast by 2022 of which around 18 billion will be related to IoT (Internet of Things) says Ericsson Mobility Report. In 2018, mobile phones are expected to be surpassed in numbers by IoT devices, which include connected cars, machines, meters, wearables and other consumer electronics. Between 2016 and 2022, IoT devices are expected to increase at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 21 percent, driven by new use cases.

The number of connected devices in India is projected to rise from 200 million today to around 3 billion by 2020. In terms of revenues, the number of connected devices is set to increase from $5.6 billion today to $15 billion in 2020. 

Formation of UNLIMIT
IoT presents new opportunities for mobile operators to leverage their core assets and move up the value chain. To tap this ever increasing Indian market, Reliance has become the first telco in India to set top a dedicated and integrated IoT business unit committed to help enterprise customers meet their digital goals. 

To leverage on its India strategy, UNLIMIT has announced a strategic partnership with Cisco Jasper to launch IoT services to enterprise customers pan-India. UNLIMIT enterprise customers will be able to take advantage of the UNLIMIT Control Centre which is based on the IoT connectivity platform of Cisco Jasper and include Reliance's powerful mobile network. 

The Cisco Jasper IoT Cloud Business unit has 6,500 enterprise cusiotmers with 36 million devices. Every month there is an addition of 120 new enterprise customers and there is also an addition of 1 million devices.    

Talking about UNLIMIT, Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, group managing director, Reliance group said, "Nearly every sector will be positively impacted by IoT, and the Indian manufacturing industry is already beginning to reap its benefits." 

Announcing the launch of the new venture, Juergen Hase, chief executive officer, UNLIMIT said, "IoT is a critical enabler for India's growth and businesses throughout the country are already utilising its huge potential to help deliver innovative new services to their customers, while reducing cost and increasing revenue." 

Box Item
Global Telcos Who have Taken Lead in IoT
AT&T - Added more IoT devices than smartphones
China Unicom - Added 36 million IoT devices in one year 
KPN Netherlands - Focusing on pan-European IoT deployment
Rogers Canada - Active on IoT deployment 
Telstra - Global SIM partnered with DoCoMo 
Source: Company Information

The Enterprise Solutions 
According to industry sources, UNLIMIT is doing trial runs in respective group companies be it utilities, hospitality, insurance and others. In terms of verticals, the initial focus is on automotive, transport & logistics, energy and utilities, agriculture and industrial automation. To begin with UNLIMIT will focus on making India a leader in digital transformation by helping enterprise customers transform their business models. The company is focusing on three products - UNLIMIT Control, UNLIMIT Starter and UNLIMIT Tracking. 

With respect to UNLIMIT Control, the company has announced its first partnership with Cisco Jasper IoT Connectivity Management platform to provide full suite of connectivity solutions based on GSM solutions. Cisco Jasper is presently also working on new technologies like Wi-Fi, Narrowband IoT, LTE-M, LoRa and Sigfox. Driven by enterprise demand, Cisco Jasper is presently evaluating use cases for Wi-Fi. For Narrowband IoT, Cisco Jasper is conducting trials in 2017 whereas for LTE-M commercial trials would happen soon.  

For UNLIMIT Starter, the company is giving 3 SIM cards, 100 Mbps connection for three months and developer kit where start ups can test their solutions w.r.t. different verticals. UNITE will help startups to be a part of the digital story thereby helping India move towards digital. 

For UNLIMIT Tracking the focus is on vehicle trading and asset tracking. All these will help in providing insights, helping asset monetisation and increasing profitability. 

In addition, to enabling business transformation the focus is also on enabling smart cities to increase the quality of life for residents. Reliable connectivity and the ability to easily manage the multitude of connected services involved in smart cities are two key requirements to ensure the success of 100 smart cities. 

To manage corporates, UNITE has set up IoT control centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad which will help in providing easy connectivity irrespective of the vertical.  

The IoT enterprise solutions will help in saving costs, generating new revenue streams and also help in providing lot of fun and wellness for consumers but UNITE success will be dependent on connectivity, value added services, developer environment and innovative solutions.