Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US announced cleaning technology and equipment company ICE Cobotics as a customer for an IoT connectivity programme unveiled earlier this year, with a deal covering 7,500 existing and forthcoming autonomous robots.

ICE Cobotics tapped the T IoT service as the exclusive provider of mobile connectivity to its robots.

In a statement, the company noted the service also bolsters its subscription model by providing data on cleaning operations to verticals including retail, healthcare, education and hospitality.

It noted this removes the need for physical visits. ICE Cobotics added T IoT also enables it to deliver software and firmware updates OTA, while mechanical and telemetry data can be analysed remotely.

Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile previously stated T IoT aims to offer an alternative to scenarios where companies had to strike multiple operator deals to enable multinational connectivity.

T-IoT’s global network spans technologies including NB-IoT, LTE-M, LTE and 5G.

GSMA Intelligence predicts the number of connected IoT connected devices will reach 25.2 billion by 2025, up from 9.1 billion in 2018.