Tele2 Sweden said it has signed an agreement with Stena Fastigheter to supply the Swedish real estate company with comprehensive smart-building services. The deal runs for five years and is the first business-services agreement since Tele2 merged with cable operator Com Hem in November 2018. Stena Fastigheter is already a client of both Tele2 and Com Hem.
The agreement involves an entirely new fiber-based management network for each individual building, in which connection to the access network takes place via Com Hem’s communications operator, iTUX. This management network will support remote control for heating, water, cooling, ventilation, and new-tenant services. This is part of Tele2’s Network as a Service (NaaS) offering.
Tele2 added that it is holding a smart-building seminar at the Almedalen Week political forum on 2 July with the participation of Stefan Trampus, head of its property services division, and Cecilia Fasth, CEO of Stena Fastigheter.
Tarifica’s Take
We find this example of a telecom operator stepping outside the traditional parameters to be particularly compelling. Tele2 is providing an end-to-end solution for a major real estate firm in its home market of Sweden, ensuring, in one stroke, that its Network as a Service program will be operational in a vast number of locations and thereby generate significant revenue long-term.
The system is appropriately tailored to the demands of building management, featuring automated control of heating, water, cooling, ventilation, and new-tenant services. This control takes place via a technology that benefits from Tele2’s recent merger with Com Hem, leveraging the cable provider’s long experience with fiber networks. The resulting local-access networks provide a way for systems to be remotely operated within structures in a way that is different from IoT while addressing some of the same needs. To that extent, it represents an innovative and creative way for a telecom operator to go outside its traditional areas of service and achieve a meaningful presence in the smart-buildings sector.
It should also be noted that the present deal is in line with Tele2’s recent withdrawal from most of its European markets and renewed focus on its home market of Sweden. Building diversified business in that country by offering comprehensive and targeted network services for enterprises is a good move in the wake of this change in orientation.