Verizon purchased Skyward, a drone operations management company, as part of a strategy to drive innovation and adoption for IoT services in high-growth markets.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Verizon said companies rely on US-based Skyward for managing operations, improving safety and lowering the operating costs of drones.

The operator believes the acquisition will provide businesses with “a single source for integrating, managing and wirelessly connecting their drone operations – linking all the people, projects and equipment involved into one clear and efficient workflow.”

Mike Lanman, SVP of enterprise products and IoT at Verizon, explained the operator had announced the Airborne LTE Operations initiative, a service to simplify certification and connectivity of wireless drones, during Q4 2016. He described the acquisition as “a natural progression of our core focus on operating in innovative, high-growth markets… to simplify the drone industry and help support the adoption of IoT.”

Skyward CEO Jonathan Evans believes the company’s platform combined with Verizon’s network will allow organisations to scale drones across “hundreds of use cases.”

Verizon plans to streamline the management of drone operations to help businesses create and manage services backed by its mobile private network, secure cloud interconnect and data analytics capabilities.

Verizon’s efforts to develop its IoT offering, largely through acquisition, led to Q4 revenue in the area increasing 21 per cent year-on-year to $234 million.