LIVE FROM DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WORLD, NICE: Orange Belgium principal solution architect Pawan Dubey (pictured) emphasised the strong position mobile operators hold in terms of generating revenue from IoT, noting 5G will deliver more than just an evolution of current M2M connectivity.

Discussing the relationship between 5G and IoT, Dubey said: “There are two aspects, whether 5G is accelerating the IoT or whether IoT is basically accelerating the need to have 5G.”

He noted much of what 5G offers allows advances of current IoT use cases: “In the massive or critical IoT use cases, we really need 5G to be the underlying platform”.

Citing a common theme of the event, Dubey pointed to collaboration with industry and the need for operators to carefully define the role they want to take in the IoT ecosystem.

“Telcos have the strongest position in the IoT value chain it’s just a matter of the role they decide to take,” he added. “Either we can sit at the basic connectivity level or we can provide some additional security services or device management capabilities to upgrade ourselves.”

Dubey noted the options facing operators also included creating industry-specific platforms, analytics or end-to-end platforms.