Global IoT, Anywhere You Need It

What happens when connectivity grows from a niche tool into the backbone of modern industry? We sit with Erik Brenneis CEO of Vodafone IoT, to explore how a team that started in the M2M era now supports 230 million connections across 180 countries and 760 networks. From connected cars that update themselves over the air to smart meters reshaping utilities, we trace the systems, standards, and strategy that turned scattered pilots into dependable, planet-scale services.

Eric breaks down where the demand is strongest—automotive, energy, industrial equipment, payments—and why connected health is surging with pacemakers, sleep apnea devices, and dialysis machines that need authenticated, encrypted, and reliable links. We go inside the operating model: embedded technical teams near customer R&D centers, direct access to experts, and local solutions for complex markets like Turkey, Brazil, and the UAE to meet data residency and regulatory needs without redesigning products per country.

Security takes center stage as we contrast consumer SIM behavior with a closed IoT system that authenticates all traffic and blocks unauthorized access. Then we zoom out to the unexpected: conservation stories from tracking seals, rhinos, and whales, and environmental protection through early forest fire detection. Finally, we look ahead to a major shift—evolving from mobile-only to a hybrid mobile plus satellite network through partnerships with Iridium and Skylo, delivering ubiquitous coverage without new hardware. That leap doesn’t just connect more places; it feeds industrial AI with the steady, trustworthy data it needs to drive real outcomes.

If you enjoy conversations that blend real-world deployments with what’s next in connectivity, subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who loves tech that actually ships. What would you connect first?

Transcript

Meet Vodafone IoT At MWC

SPEAKER_00 0:01

And I'm here with Eric at Vodafone at MWC Barcelona. Eric, how are you? I'm doing great. Thanks, Evan. Very nice to meet you. Well, good to see you. Amazing presence here as always in Barcelona. Before that, maybe introduce yourself, your team within the Vodafone Group, and the big idea of some of the projects you're working on. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

I'm Eric Brannis, CEO of Vodafone IoT. Vodafone IoT is a dedicated company within the Vodafone Group, 100% owned by Vodafone. And our mission is to make sure that all the global IoT customers can be served adequately. That's what we're doing. And we're basically present all around the world, not just in Vodafone countries.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

And you've been on quite a mission over a couple of decades almost on the IoT space. Tell us about that journey, that evolution of IoT from when you started.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yes, so I joined in 2009. And back then the term IoT didn't exist. We called it M-to-M, machine to machine. So basically, we built the platform we're still using today, of course, in a much modernized form. And we started serving big customers, national customers, international customers, grew over the years. And when I joined, we didn't have any IoT connections. And now we have 230 million IoT connections. So it's been huge growth across all segments and a great journey.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Well, what an amazing uh story. And you know, IoT, of course, is all about the use case, the application, the vertical, the industry. Tell us about the scope, the depth, and breadth, the shape of the companies you serve. Yes.

Industries Driving IoT Adoption

SPEAKER_01 1:41

So we basically serve all industries who require IoT connectivity everywhere in the world. Um the biggest segments, uh the biggest segment historically has always been the automotive segment. Connected cars started already many years ago, and now all the new cars are being connected. And um cars also use more and more data. Initially, it was just for emergency call. Now the cars also prepare for autonomous driving, they do software downloads and so on. The second big segment, which has always been there, is the um uh energy segment. Biggest big one in there is electricity metering. Now, recently, um, utilities have started to also connect water, gas, heat meters. So there's still huge growth in the energy segment. Then lots of industrial applications, production machines, construction equipment, there are payment systems wired as credit card readers. And the biggest growth at the moment we actually see in the medical segment where we have connected patients, we see connected pacemakers, connected sleep apnea devices, connected dialysis machines, there's huge growth. So, what we're seeing in the market, IoT, is not at its peak yet.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

It's still growing very strongly. Well, that's amazing. It's great to see so many use cases for good, life-saving critical, mission-critical use cases. Absolutely. How do you engage with clients? What is the model like for serving such a diverse range of industries? How soon can, if I have an application or use case, how soon can I IoT enable it?

How Vodafone Works With Customers

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yes. Well, so IoT nowadays is can very quickly be integrated into a customer's product. So we have technical teams all over the world, uh, and our concept is that we support the customer technically wherever the customer has their development teams. So our German team works with the German car manufacturers to develop their global solution. Our American teams work with the American customers and so on. And um basically how we engage with our customers is we have a pretty big sales and technical sales team deployed around the world because um in IoT it's really important for the customer to work directly with the experts like ourselves and not have too many people in between. Because you still need to bring the systems together, and every big project is also a development project. So we have people, technical salespeople, service people, salespeople in all the relevant big industries in the world, several people in the US, Japan, China, the Vodafone footprint in Europe, South Africa, everywhere, and that's our model. In addition to that, we also have some indirect partners around the world who also resell our solutions, and with this, we basically reach all the market segments.

Building A Global IoT Network

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Fantastic. And of course, you have a network purpose-built, perfectly built for IoT. Talk about the network, where it is today, where it's going over time, and the different modes in which you can serve IoT devices. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

So our IoT connectivity network basically we deliver services today in 180 countries on 760 networks. There are some countries in the world who have a complex situation from a regulatory point of view. You need a local solution, the data must not leave the country, and so on. That's the case, for example, in Turkey, Brazil, or United Arab Emirates. And in all these countries, we have built the local solution that's required to really serve a global customer. So we've made all these investments and we continuously improve the cooperation with all our network partners around the world.

Security As A Core Differentiator

SPEAKER_00 5:27

You know, traditionally IoT has been held back by lack of standardization, fragmentation, security challenges. But looks like you've solved many of those issues.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Yes, um, so I'm quite proud, and I think the fact that we have 230 million device uh IoT connections around the world shows that uh that we've basically cracked this nut, and that's what we worked very hard on. Um, whether it's on security, where we basically authenticate all the traffic and encrypt all the traffic that we send around the world. Our IoT system, from a security perspective, is also a closed system. So that's very different to a consumer SIM. If you put a consumer SIM into an IoT device, basically anybody can call the number. This is not possible in our system. Only authorized users can actually reach a device. Um but these are the investments we've made over the years, and we continuously work with all the network partners around the world to ensure that we can deliver everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Incredible. So you have so many customers. Uh I'd hate to ask you to ask for talk about one. You know, you don't want to have favorite children, but are there are there use cases or anecdotes or stories with one or two of your customers that you can share or maybe give some inside?

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Look, I I mean uh the classic use case is a connected car um or a connected electricity meter. But um if you if you're looking for some cool stories, I just recently checked which animals have we connected um over the course of the years. And it started with connected seals, you know, seals in order to understand how they uh how they swim around, you know, and how far and and how they eat. Um we've got we connect rhinos in Africa to protect them from poachers, you know. So when when poachers come, the system detects that. We've connected um uh we've connected uh we are connecting whales, for example, and so on and so forth. Also, environmental solutions, we connect um uh anti-forest fire solutions, you know, which detect early when there's a forest fire so that you can still extinct it before it becomes too big. Um, that's one of the things I find most exciting about IoT. It's really everywhere, and only your fantasy is the limit of what you can do.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Wow. Well, that was a cool story. It really blew my mind there. Um anything here at the show or looking forward in your roadmap you'd like to share before we wrap up? What's uh what are you looking forward to this year?

Satellite, Ubiquity, And AI Next

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Yeah, so I think this year is um uh satellite is a big theme. And we are also we're evolving this year our network from a mobile-only IoT network to a hybrid mobile and satellite network. We've announced a partnership with um Iridium and with Skylo recently, and this year we will bring this to market. Um, from a customer point of view, um, there's no need for dedicated hardware. This all runs on the same hardware. That's basically the big difference to the past, and it's just another network. So we will be able this year to offer ubiquitous connectivity anywhere in the world to any customer, and that's a big thing. Wow. On top of this, um, artificial intelligence is still a big theme. And of course, um, what is uh in industrial artificial intelligence, IoT is what feeds all these systems. So without IoT, no artificial intelligence on um uh on industrial applications, and that's also driving our business. These are the two big themes um that I see this year at the show.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Wow. Well that's a mic drop moment, but uh congratulations. Onwards and upwards, literally, to infinity. So well done. Thank you. Thanks so much, Shert Hagnoch. Thank you.