PT Indosat, which is 65%-owned by Ooredoo Asia, has teamed up with Ericsson of Sweden to deploy a cloud-based machine-to-machine (M2M) platform in Indonesia, using the vendor’s Ericsson Device Connection Platform (DCP), which it claims uses ‘innovative technologies’ to help resolve problems when rolling out M2M in developing markets. The Indonesian cellco is the first in the Ooredoo group to deploy M2M, with Qatar, Algeria and Tunisia expected to follow suit later this year. Commenting on the launch, Dr Nasser Marafih, Group CEO of Ooredoo, said: ‘The platform will play a key role in speeding up the implementation of smart city technologies, supporting our customer’s ‘connected lives’ and helping develop smarter economies, smarter infrastructure, smarter environments and smarter governance in the markets that we operate.’
Earlier this week TeleGeography reported that Indosat has also partnered with Facebook to launch ‘Internet.org’ in Indonesia, as part of the wider ‘Internet Tanpa Pulsa Untuk Semua’ initiative for all Indonesians. The pair say that Internet.org makes surfing the Web more accessible by offering a set of basic services, including health, education, social media and news. Facebook’s Internet.org initiative is aimed at making internet access available to the two thirds of the world’s population who have never been connected before. Under the scheme, Indosat is providing internet access at no charge via Internet.org services both for its pre-paid (IM3 & Mentari) customers and post-paid Matrix subscribers.
