Telefonica and China Unicom signed an agreement designed to simplify IoT deployments for global companies – a move the companies said would consolidate their respective positions in Europe, Latin America and China.

The deal covers the enterprise sector and will allow both operators to supply IoT products and services across several major markets through a single global SIM card.

In a joint statement, the operators said customers would be able to use a unified IoT connectivity management platform to control global connections and localise IoT SIMs once they reach a geography through a “subscription swap”.

Telefonica chief IoT officer Vicente Munoz said: “We are leveraging IoT technologies to accompany our customers on their digital transformation journey, where IoT has a very important role to play.”

“Simplifying massive IoT deployments is key and therefore we are strengthening our ecosystem of partners. Our partnership with China Unicom will strengthen Telefonica’s capability to meet our global customer needs”.

The companies will rollout the capability later this year.