Scottish Water has awarded a contract for mobile and field connectivity services worth an estimated £16 million in total.

The wide-ranging contract includes the provision of business mobile, telemetry connectivity, mobile and field devices and connectivity advisory and innovation services.

The water company sees mobile and field connectivity services as a key enabler for delivering its services across Scotland. For example, if Scottish Water wants to detect and reduce leakage in the network, the IOT investment needs to be underpinned by a reliable and geographically spread mobile service.

According to the utility, the services provided under the contract will be a key enabler for its digital transformation journey.

The company went out to tender in September 2019 to procure the next generation of mobile and field connectivity services prior to the expiry of the existing agreements in July 2020.

Key deliverables Scottish Water was looking for included:

• flexibility for its workforce dependent on role type; in network options/availability, tariffs, devices, international roaming
• geographical blockers reduced through a highly resilient and available network across Scotland
• no risk to telemetry/security assets and no downtime
• increasing value, decreasing costs
• ability to take advantage of new technologies

Initial contract term is 2 years with options to extend for a further 3 x 2 years - annual spend is estimated in the range £1.5 million to £2.5 million.

Vodafone Ltd and O2 Telefonica have both been awarded contracts.