Bonus content: AT&T and Vodafone join for automotive IoT at MWC 2019

Taken from Ovum’s Mobile World Congress Day 01 briefing:

AT&T and Vodafone's collaboration on automotive IoT points the way forwards for tier 1 operators with global reach: partnering to scale-up reach for combined technology approaches, and to extend their reach into as many markets globally as possible.

AT&T and Vodafone Business are working together to develop connected car services, including connectivity, entertainment, and telematics, in North America, Europe, and Africa. The companies aim to simplify the automotive IoT deployment process, improve operations, deliver innovative solutions, and make the network certification process easier.

Key areas of focus for the companies will be: 5G and autonomous vehicle technology; V2X capabilities; in-vehicle entertainment; connected car applications and services; global service quality models; and connected car in the context of smart cities intersection.

AT&T and Vodafone collectively work with nearly 50 global automotive brands and connect more than 43 million cars and trucks on the road today, which is a solid starting point for their collaboration. In terms of next steps, how the companies use this as a platform to grow their approaches to IoT automotive will be crucial to their success in this already hotly contested field.