Vodacom Business, Mezzanine, EMS Solutions and Honeywell Smart Energy have installed more than 200 narrow-band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) automated meter reading (AMR) water sensors across the Matlosana municipality, in the North West.

The pilot project will prove the use cases and benefits of NB-IoT as a communication technology for smart water and electricity metering deployments.

The smart meters, installed within a four-day period, are expected to enable customers to manage their water consumption more accurately and help save costs and water by using the smart Asset Management Solution.

“This helps utility managers to get an accurate view of the water supply network through the digital Asset Management Solution by balancing the system and detecting losses in real-time,” says Vodacom Business IoT Africa managing executive Peter Malebye.

An average of 37% of South Africa’s water is lost before it gets to users as a result of leaks and smart meters can help to monitor water use and water supply to minimise this wastage.

Increasingly, municipalities and other utility service providers are seeking innovative end-to-end connected solutions that enable utility operations like water and electricity to run more efficiently, reliably, safely and cost-effectively, he says.

The modem-driven, end-to-end software solution helps customers to implement advanced analytics, revenue assurance and protection and smart prepayment to improve utilities’ operational performance.

“Vodacom, working together with Honeywell, is showing how the benefits of NB-IoT, long battery life of remote devices and deep signal penetration assist in actively monitoring service delivery points that are not easily attainable with other existing communication technologies,” he adds.

With about 1 000 activated base stations in Gauteng, the Vodacom Business NB-IoT data model allows for developing digital dashboards that provide reporting and data-driven event notification of the collected data.

This data provides active monitoring of key parameters of critical and high-cost assets in near real-time.

“Vodacom Business, together with its partners, is committed to providing benefits to its utility customers by rolling out NB-IoT solutions across the African continent, helping to save water and costs for both municipalities and consumers,” says Malebye.