Vodafone Idea Wednesday said it has completed the testing for over 50 Internet of Things (IoT) devices and certification as per oneM2M and 3GPP standards for interoperability, at the IoT Lab that it has set up with the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT).

Until today, five devices have been certified as “network ready” by this lab. Now, the Vi-C-DOT IoT Lab is also testing 5G and Narrow Band-IoT (NB-IoT) devices, Vi said in a statement.

“Since its formation in December 2022, we have tested more than 50 devices across industries like automobile, utility, BFSI, logistic and more,” said Vi. “This IoT lab not only validates network performance as per device, but it also helps certify solution interoperability,” it added.

Further, Vi and C-DoT have expanded the IoT Lab to a “Centre of Innovation” which will act as an incubation centre, providing startups with technology and a business platform for broader and quicker market readiness. This will also provide a platform to make the solutions compliant with oneM2M standards.

Arvind Nevatia, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Vi said that the ‘Vi IoT Lab’ in partnership with C-DoT has enabled the telco’s partners with the “right IoT deployment”, especially bringing standardisation and interoperability.

“We are delighted to further strengthen this partnership by establishing ‘Centre of Innovation’ which will bring synergies between startups and the M2M/IoT industry. This collaboration is a reflection of our ongoing efforts to improve the domestic IoT ecosystem while contributing to the growth of the Indian economy,” Nevatia said.

“I am confident that this collaborative initiative of C-DOT and Vi along with the Centre of Innovation (COI) for IoT/M2M by C-DOT would be extremely beneficial for the Indian industry, especially start-ups in their endeavor to manufacture and deploy indigenous standards-compliant devices and applications,” said Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO, C-DoT.

As per a NASSCOM report, India’s IoT market is projected to reach $15 billion by 2025. However, the industry faces challenges such as device network compatibility, remote device configuration, etc., and ecosystem challenges such as a fragmented ecosystem preventing businesses from scaling.

Addressing this concern, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has mandated oneM2M as the National IoT Standards for Interoperability of IoT devices.