The Swedish vendor Ericsson has agreed to acquire the machine-to-machine (M2M) technology platform of Telenor Connexion, the M2M arm of Norwegian telco Telenor.
In a statement, Telenor Connexion said that Ericsson was acquiring the platform “in order to…
The Swedish vendor Ericsson has agreed to acquire the machine-to-machine (M2M) technology platform of Telenor Connexion, the M2M arm of Norwegian telco Telenor.
In a statement, Telenor Connexion said that Ericsson was acquiring the platform “in order to allow for larger economies of scale”. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Telenor Connexion called the deal an “aggressive move”, but said that it would enable them to free up resources to focus on customers’ needs, rather than the day-to-day operations of an M2M platform.
A Telenor Connexion spokeswoman said that the term “aggressive” was supposed to mean bold or market-leading.
Ericsson also dismissed suggestions that Telenor Connexion had not wanted this deal. A spokesman said: “Telenor Connexion wants to sell and we want to buy.”
Eleven Telenor Connexion employees will also transfer to Ericsson as part of the deal.
Magnus Farustram, VP and Head of Core and IMS at Ericsson, welcomed the deal, claiming that the platform would complement its service and improve its offering.
Farustram said: “Our ambition is to grow the M2M market and offer our customers a solution that they can quickly use on a market for a low initial investment.”
Telenor Connexion’s strategy will now focus on providing what it calls “value-added services”, which are designed to help customers streamline operations, attain full control in M2M applications, provide SIM solutions and customer-friendly payment services.
The CEO of Telenor Connexion, Per Simonsen, said that M2M solutions had gained momentum and that the market was more mature compared to when his company was created in 2008.
Simonsen said: “Utilising our offering on Ericsson’s platform means that we can focus our resources on value adding services, improved and customised products, and partnerships to further strengthen our position as the leading provider of premium M2M solutions for business and life critical applications.”
As part of the deal, Telenor Connexion will become the first customer for Ericsson’s “Device Connection Platform” system, which is supposed to allow telecoms operators to offer M2M services to business enterprise customers.
The Telenor Connexion platform that Ericsson has acquired will complement this Device Connection Platform.
Telenor Connexion said it had not used any financial information for the transaction, while Ericsson would not disclose that information.
