O2 and IDEMIA have today supplied secure connectivity to over 4 million UK homes with a second generation Smart Meter. The rollout will continue into the future, supporting the UK government program to deploy Smart Meters for all UK households and small businesses.
As part of the transition to a flexible energy market that requires a low carbon economy and sustainable consumption habits, smart meters give consumers near real-time information on energy helping them to take control of their energy usage and bring an end to estimated billing. Smart meters come with in-home displays to enable consumers to have a better understanding of their energy usage. Against that backdrop, customers using the latest generation of smart meters are reporting an average saving of around 10% per month.
IDEMIA says that it is proud to be one of the key partners helping O2 to securely connect 23 million UK homes with smart meters. Together, they have already reached the milestone of connecting 4 million UK homes equipped with smart meters using IDEMIA’s Machine to Machine (M2M) SIM technology. SIMs used are the same as found in handsets, adapted and ruggedized for the harsh environments where smart meters are installed.
For the future, O2 expects to implement up to 23 million devices, following the UK Government’s mandate that every home in Britain should have a smart meter by 2025.
Fabien Jautard, Executive Vice-President for Mobile Operators Business Unit at IDEMIA, stated:
“IDEMIA has been working with O2 for many years and has a proven track record of both quality and supply of Machine to Machine (M2M) SIM based products. Our technology ensures the consumer can both monitor and report energy usage, making a great contribution towards a more sustainable lifestyle.”
