Vi Business, the enterprise arm of India’s Vodafone Idea, said that it plans to deploy 12 million smart meters nationwide within the next three years in a bid to help transform India’s energy infrastructure.
Vi Business said the deployment – which aligns with India’s National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) – will foster innovation in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and loT solutions such as prepaid electricity meters.
The meters will run on Vi Business’ “IoT Smart Central” platform, which provides comprehensive visibility and control across millions of connected meters.
This would allow distribution companies to decrease aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses and provide consumers with immediate insights into their energy consumption, the company said.
Vi Business also said the project will benefit from the telco’s experience of managing smart meters in India over the last five years, during which it has been building scalable and resilient AMI solutions for the energy sector, with structured methodologies for pre- and post-onboarding of smart meters, ensuring seamless integration and rapid scalability across geographies.
Vi Business also operates an loT Lab for rigorous pre-deployment testing and certification, which it says enables faster and more reliable AMI rollouts.
"We are pioneers in the smart meter energy ecosystem, first to deploy smart meters in 2018 and first to launch innovations like the loT lab,” said Vi’s chief enterprise business officer Arvind Nevatia in a statement. “We continue this commitment with an aim to deploy 12 million smart meters to reduce energy losses, improve efficiency and enhance consumer experience across India.”
The NSGM was established by the Indian government in 2015 to implement and monitor smart grids to improve reliability of electricity networks, allow the power grid to integrate renewable energy solutions and empower consumers to manage their electricity consumption and reducing their bills.
