Nokia is throwing its hat into the IoT connectivity ring, offering what it describes as a “one-stop shop full service model providing seamless IoT connectivity across technologies and geographical borders”.

The company said the worldwide IoT network grid (Wing) will manage the IoT connectivity and service needs of assets such as connected cars or connected freight containers, which would otherwise require work with multiple technology providers.

Connectivity is enabled by intelligent switching between cellular and non-cellular networks, for example using satellite technology when outside of mobile network coverage. It will also offer provisioning, operations, security, billing and enterprise customer services from operations command centres.

Nokia was keen to point out it is not looking to compete with its service provider customers, stating these players can “quickly take advantage of new business opportunities that will be made available by joining a global federation of IoT connectivity services”.

It said: “by leveraging their excess network capacity they will be able to serve enterprises that require near global IoT connectivity, rapidly and with little effort”, while for service providers targeting IoT it will shorten time-to-market as a white label, managed service offering.

However, Phil Twist, the company’s mobile networks marketing VP, acknowledged that although “it’s not about competing with an existing channel, if there are very large enterprises that have a global footprint who want to work directly, we can do that as well”.

“What we are trying to do is offer something that is a complement to what [operators] can do in-country, that provides a worldwide extension to that. And there aren’t any worldwide network operators at the moment. So this is a kind of federation, in cooperation with operators that can extend their reach outside of their geographic remit,” he continued.

When it comes to directly competing with operators, Twist said: “I would be surprised if we put ourselves in that position, given that our bread-and-butter business working with operators is not something we particularly want to jeopardise”.

Nokia is looking to have customers connected to the service later this year.