SoftBank Corp., the telecommunications subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., has announced plans to expand its global IoT business in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region starting in October 2023.
This expansion will cover 19 countries and regions and will focus on marketing IoT services, particularly the 1NCE IoT Flat Rate from German company 1NCE GmbH, to enterprise customers. 1NCE offers managed connectivity services for low-bandwidth IoT applications and has developed a disruptive pricing model for IoT connectivity called the 1NCE IoT Lifetime Flat Rate.
SoftBank aims to acquire two million 1NCE IoT Flat Rate connections in APAC and other regions by the end of the 2025 fiscal year. SoftBank became an equity stakeholder in 1NCE GmbH in April 2022 and signed an exclusive agreement to market the 1NCE IoT Flat Rate in 19 APAC markets.
The 1NCE IoT Flat Rate is available at a remarkably low price and allows customers to roam on 1NCE's global network at no additional cost. To support this expansion, SoftBank will quadruple its IoT salesforce, launch an online IoT shop in partnership with 1NCE, and strengthen its advertising and marketing efforts in the region.
SoftBank will also leverage its existing locations in APAC and its IoT platform to propose solutions for smart meters and further expand its global IoT business. Additionally, SoftBank will establish a support framework to address industry-specific challenges in different countries and regions.
