Chinese vendor ZTE has partnered with Africa’s MTN Group to launch an Internet of Things (IoT) platform, providing a dedicated network to connect devices and systems, as well as a global M2M SIM card in Africa.

The platform, already live in South Africa, claims to adopt “cutting-edge technologies suited to developing markets, bringing flexible connectivity for devices in the region”, MTN said in a statement, while the SIM card provides customers with a blanket rate for M2M activity across MTN’s African network.

The African operator believes IoT and M2M technology will drive business growth in the Middle East and Africa in sectors such as banking, transportation and energy through smart cities and says it has “developed a clear strategy to contribute to this growth”.

MTN also believes the platform and its associated integrated network environment will enable it to introduce application services with the potential to enhance the socio-economic environment in the rest region.

“Working across such a wide range of vertical markets requires a level of flexibility and scalability that only a cloud-based platform can deliver,” said Zhao Peng, vice president of ZTE.

MTN added it is working with a number of organisations to support the development of smart cities.

ZTE recently reported a 42 per cent increase in Q1 net profit as its mobile ICT strategy started to generate new growth avenues.

The strategy is focused on cloud computing, big data and smart cities to help operators and enterprise customers capitalise on opportunities in the era of mobile broadband and IoT.