Vodafone Idea has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian government’s Centre for Development of Telematics (C-Dot) to develop and deploy IoT and M2M technology in India.

IoT adoption has become critical for any organisation’s digital transformation journey. However, in the current deployments, certain operational problems such as device network compatibility, over-the-air firmware upgrades, remote device configuration, security vulnerabilities and implementation in siloes with proprietary protocols are preventing businesses from reaping the scale benefits of IoT.

To address these challenges in IoT implementation, C-Dot and Vodafone Idea have agreed to collaborate on a non-exclusive basis to evaluate applications and devices from various providers against OneM2M specifications and offer joint certificates.

“C-Dot has been the flagbearer of IoT and M2M standardisation and has been contributing significantly to OneM2M, the global IoT and M2M standard,” said RajKumar Upadhyay, executive director of C-Dot. “This partnership is an opportunity to see the OneM2M specifications in action in a diverse set of sectors and applications, from smart energy to connected cars. Together we will explore what is next for the industry and learn more about the value OneM2M specifications could deliver.”

He said C-Dot’s indigenously developed OneM2M based common services platform (CCSP) could benefit the IoT industry.

“Collaboration with Vodafone Idea will provide great opportunity to device and application providers to deploy their solutions in the Vodafone Idea network,” he said. “This platform will enable application providers to use a robust middleware framework with all necessary underlying common services to deploy a secure OneM2M compliant solution.”

Arvind Nevatia, chief enterprise business officer at Vodafone Idea, added: “We are delighted to partner C-Dot who have strong capabilities to undertake large-scale development programmes in IoT and telecommunication. We strongly believe that IoT has huge potential and, as a leader in IoT, this partnership will enable IoT application and device providers to launch full-proof standardised and interoperable solutions in the market.”

C-Dot and Vodafone Idea reiterated their commitment towards building indigenous capabilities for the digital transformation of the country as part of the celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

C-Dot is a telecoms R&D organisation under the Indian government’s Ministry of Communications, carrying out research and development activities in optical communication, wireless technologies, switching and routing, IoT, M2M, artificial intelligence, security and other applications.

Vodafone Idea is an Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group partnership. The company provides pan India voice and data services across 2G, 3G and 4G, and has a 5G-ready platform.