Novatel Wireless, Inc., a global provider of solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT), including software-as-a-service (SaaS), and Mobile Telephone Network Group (MTN), an African telecommunications network operator with 229 million subscribers across Africa and the Middle East, have announced a partnership agreement to offer Ctrack telematics solutions and services to MTN’s IoT customer base.

The solution enables MTN’s business subscribers to seamlessly integrate fleet management and vehicle tracking solutions using MTN’s Pan African IoT SIM cards, enabling businesses to benefit from a single rate for IoT activity across the company’s footprint in Africa. In addition, this allows companies with transcontinental operations to easily monitor and track vehicles across borders, according to the companies.

“Given the similarities in the footprints of Ctrack and MTN, as well as the benefits which fleet management and vehicle tracking solutions provide to our business customers, this partnership is a natural fit,” said Debbie Minnaar, acting executive for MTN’s Group Enterprise Business Unit. “Over and above this, the launch of fleet management services marks the beginning of MTN’s journey towards building an IoT ecosystem, whereby services such as fleet management can be leveraged to enable and enhance other offerings related to smart cities, smart health and smart agriculture.”

The Ctrack fleet management and vehicle tracking platform for MTN is a combination of hardware, software and firmware that dramatically accelerates the time to market of M2M and IoT projects and enables MTN to layer their added-value components on a reliable ready-to-use infrastructure. Ctrack’s extensive network of distributors will provide the in-field support for each country, according to the companies.