American telecom service provider AT&T announced its connected car deal with Volvo Cars to offer wireless connectivity to Volvo vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. The deal will be a big blow to Verizon.
Volvo plans to enable cars with AT&T telematics solution on-board for sale this summer. Connected cars are expected to better customer experience.
AT&T will supply connected car solution to power Volvo’s US 2015 model year with Sensus Connect, an infotainment service. Volvo customers will have access to Volvo On Call service, allowing remote access to car functions and an emergency crash notification service.
In the multi-year agreement, the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier will offer AT&T Single SIM platform to provide coverage in the U.S. and Canada.
The Single SIM, along with a service management platform, AT&T Control Center powered by Jasper Wireless, arms Volvo with the ability to manage wireless device deployment and operations across markets with advanced diagnostic tools and smart alerting.
AT&T has recently announced agreements with Tesla Motors, Volkswagen’s Audi and General Motors.
Connected vehicle market
GSMA, a telecom industry body, says more than 20 percent of cars sold in 2015 will have built-in connectivity, and by 2025 every car will be connected to multiple networks.
Worldwide revenue from connected cars will reach $54 billion in 2018, up from $18 billion in 2012, according to research by SBD and the GSMA.
Bloomberg reported that AT&T is expanding its connected car services to Asia with another deal. In an interview earlier today in Tokyo, Joe Mosele, AT&T’s vice president of business development for emerging devices, said the company has an agreement with an automaker outside Asia to have cars using AT&T’s wireless services in markets including China within weeks. He declined to name the automaker.
Verizon misses the connected car deal
AT&T’s connected car and Digital Life services are just a couple in a large and growing portfolio of data services that AT&T is building to support additional data revenue growth over the next five years. This is an opportunity for AT&T to gain ground on Verizon in a new area, even as Verizon continues to dominate the postpaid market.
Eric Costa, analyst in TBR’s Networking and Mobility Practice last year said AT&T scored a major win during the first quarter of 2013 when it partnered with OnStar to provide LTE coverage starting in 2014.
AT&T is heavily investing in the connected car M2M vertical and foresees significant growth in this market over the next two years. The entire GM portfolio of car manufacturers will use AT&T’s LTE network, which will help the operator gain a sizable market share, said telecom analysts.
OnStar has been Verizon’s partner since its inception. This has assisted AT&T to expand its M2M automotive segment, causing Verizon a slight setback. However, Verizon has the resources from acquired automotive M2M company Hughes Telematics which it acquired in July 2012.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
