US-based Aeris Communications is working on plans to apply for a virtual network operator permit in the country after the department of telecommunications (DoT) approved a policy to allow companies to offer services riding on spectrum and networks of incumbent operators. Aeris currently has an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator permit) licence in the US and provides machine-to-machine communications using Sprint networks.
“We are working on a business plan. We haven’t decided as it is not on my table as yet,” Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar, president for Aeris Communications, told FE.
The move augurs well for Aeris Communications, which has already signed a global deal with Mitsubishi Motors, wherein all new cars that come out of the Japanese company’s factories across the world will be connected and enabled with Aeris Communications solutions. In India, the California-based company will first work with automobile manufacturers such as Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki to embed its connectivity solutions, he said. Currently, Aeris is working as a mobile virtual network enabler helping operators such as Aircel to provide connectivity solutions for machine-to-machine networks.
If Aeris Communications eventually gets an MVNO, it would be the first M2M operator in the country, a growing operation that combines both telecommunications and internet networks connecting machines.
