Norway’s Telenor set out its strategy to become a leading player in the emerging M2M space in a keynote address by CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress this morning. Baksaas said the operator has a new M2M business unit in place – known as Telenor Connexion – which targets the global M2M sector and is already providing solutions to the likes of Volvo, Daimler and Securitas Direct. He added that the unit was also running numerous M2M trial projects. “We are spending money on lots of trials, but we can’t expect them all to work. Some will stick and some will not.” The operator claims to have the largest installed base of M2M SIM cards in Europe. 

Another wholly-owned subsidiary has been set-up called Telenor Objects, which Baksaas described as “a platform for smart information sharing” targeted at the vertical market. “This is a long bet, but there is a need for these platforms to emerge in order for other industries to use them,” he said. Working with partners outside of the telecoms sector was a key theme in Baksaas’ address, especially with regards to efforts to reduce the world’s energy consumption. “We need to look at reductions – but not just in our industry,” he said. “We need to be part of the overall solution by deploying our technology into different areas. As a global operator we [Telenor] must operate in a responsible way and try to stimulate other industries.”

In a separate development today, Telenor announced that it has trimmed its accumulated capex guidance for the first five years of its operations in India (Uninor) by NOK4 billion (US$712.6 million) while maintaining other targets.