While many Austalians lament the lack of reliability of public transport, there will be no such issues in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand with upgrades to their networks to integrate the Internet of Things (IoT) bringing with it smart city upgrades that can reduce congestion – connected by telecommunications company Flexiroam (ASX: FRX). 

The public transport upgrades will be facilitated by Flexiroam which has partnered with Asia Mobiliti, a public transport telematics supplier. Together, Asia Mobility will supply the Internet of Things devices to be installed in all public transport and commercial vehicles while Flexiroam provides the wireless connectivity. 

“We are pleased to have signed our first deal to supply connectivity to the vehicle management industry, which is a large opportunity for Flexiroam to begin servicing,” said Flexiroam CEO, Marc Barnett. 

“We will initially supply pluggable SIM cards, which will be upgraded to MFF2 SIMs. MFF2 stands for machine-to-machine form factor and these SIMs are embedded directly onto the circuit board during IoT device manufacturing, ensuring a long-life cycle once these devices are deployed.

“Having made investments into our technology infrastructure, engineering team and sales team, we are excited by the vast opportunities to scale our vehicle management IoT connectivity business, over the long term.” 

The contract with Asia Mobility will be for a term of 3 years with annual revenue to Flexiroam expected to be around $50,000. 

By upgrading their public transport infrastructure with IoT connectivity, the vehicles will be capable of geolocation tracking while also being able to relay live data around driving behaviour, cabin conditions, and vehicle condition. 

While the revenue from this contract does not appear to be material, it continues a strong focus on sales by Flexiroam which reported $1.1 million in revenue for the December quarter, a 116% increase on the previous corresponding quarter. 

Other recent contract wins over the past few months have included white label reseller deals with Wave Rewards, BP Mobile and Global Wireless Telecom which Flexiroam expects to deliver $1.7m in annualised revenue.