The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to come out with a National Telecom M2M Roadmap for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. The Roadmap will serve as a reference document for all the M2M ecosystem partners in India. The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), a unit under DoT, has been working on framing the standards for M2M communication.
The roadmap is being drafted as the government expects this mode of connectivity to increase digital penetration, meeting the objectives of Digital India, Make in India and proposed smart cities. According to the government, M2M has the potential to bring new options for local manufacturing of devices and sensors for R&D and related services, which will boost manufacturing sector and facilitate employment generation.
M2M communications or ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) is a network of devices that communicate among themselves using IP connectivity without human intervention. Presently, the main issues towards M2M communications include lack of specific M2M standards which are in line with global standards and KYC norms for M2M services, limited allocation of spectrum for M2M last mile connectivity, privacy issues and data protection.
