Vodafone Spain lauded the win of a five-year, €25 million deal to provide and connect 315,000 smart meters to Madrid water supplier Canal de Isabel II, a contract the operator asserted was the largest of four lots tendered.

In a statement, Vodafone explained the agreement involved the supply of the units connected with NB-IoT technology for automatic remote reading. The meters will take data hourly and send the information back to the supplier once a day.

The operator added the volume of information collected would have a “significant impact both upstream in the water cycle process and on the consumer”.

Vodafone Spain director of IoT Daniel Barallat said its technology will “actively contribute to better conservation of natural resources and more efficient management of Madrid’s water”.

The deal is part of a wider scheme to push out remote meter reading to the water company’s entire footprint and use digital technologies to improve efficiency across its water system.

In December 2021, Canal de Isabel II signed-up with Telefonica for 130,000 smart meters, while earlier this year Orange Spain and partner Hidroconta announced a deal to connect more than 100,000 meters using NB-IoT.