Government launches roadmap for machine-to-machine communications

The Dollar Business Bureau Taking a step towards the goal of 'Make in India' and 'Digital India', the government on Tuesday released a roadmap for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. The roadmap will serve as a reference document for the use of machine communications. “M2M communications will impact every aspect of life of common man and results in substantial and tangible social and economic benefits to consumers, businesses, citizens and government,” Union Minister of Telecommunication Ravi Shankar Prasad said while releasing the roadmap. He said when the country is focusing on digital empowerment, it has to be ensured that it plays a lead role in the implementation of M2M technologies. The minister also asked all concerned agencies to join hands to ensure that all needed infrastructure is put in place at the earliest. M2M communications, also known as Internet of Things, is a network of multiple devices that interact among themselves with the help of internet or wireless connectivity. “M2M has great potential to transform India and it is going to be key enabler for the government vision of Digital India, Make in India and proposed smart cities in India,” Prasad said, adding that the standardization of M2M roadmap becomes more important as the country heads towards setting up 100 smart cities and introducing digitalization all over the country. “The adoption of M2M-based applications in areas like healthcare, tele-education, smart grid, smart building, smart city etc. have enormous potential to boost the socio-economic development of the country,” the minister was quoted as having said in a government statement. M2M applications like remotely operated irrigation pumps, smart grid etc. will play significant role in boosting the Indian economy, said the roadmap document released by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT). Possible M2M applications in the transportation and automotive sectors include fleet management services, fuel consumption, container/cargo management, GPS tracking, e-toll, vehicle information to third parties, prevention of vehicle theft, traffic control, smart parking, emergency call (eCall) etc, the document said. To expand M2M ecosystem in the country, the government will take several measures such as releasing national M2M numbering plan, formulating M2M service provider registration process, issuing guidelines for M2M specific KYC, SIM transfer and international roaming among others. The government is expected to include M2M system in Preferential Market Access policy that gives weightage to indigenous products.    

May 12, 2015 | 7:08 pm IST.