Connecting 300,000+ Smart Meters Across Johannesburg
Calmex designed and deployed a managed GSM connectivity layer for City Power's smart meter rollout, one of the largest IoT infrastructure programmes in South African municipal history.
The Challenge
City Power required reliable, secure cellular connectivity for a fleet of 300,000+ smart electricity meters deployed across Johannesburg. Existing public network solutions were unable to meet the reliability, APN isolation and data management requirements of a utility-scale IoT deployment. The project demanded a solution that could be managed centrally, monitored in real time and scaled without service interruption.
- 300,000+ meter endpoints requiring reliable cellular connectivity
- Need for private APN to isolate metering traffic from public internet
- Real-time connectivity monitoring and fault alerting
- Phased rollout across geographically dispersed zones
- Strict uptime and SLA requirements for critical utility infrastructure
The Solution
City Power required reliable, secure cellular connectivity for a fleet of 300,000+ smart electricity meters deployed across Johannesburg. Existing public network solutions were unable to meet the reliability, APN isolation and data management requirements of a utility-scale IoT deployment. The project demanded a solution that could be managed centrally, monitored in real time and scaled without service interruption.
- 300,000+ meter endpoints requiring reliable cellular connectivity
- Need for private APN to isolate metering traffic from public internet
- Real-time connectivity monitoring and fault alerting
- Phased rollout across geographically dispersed zones
- Strict uptime and SLA requirements for critical utility infrastructure
Strategic Value
This deployment established Calmex as a credible operator of utility-scale IoT connectivity infrastructure — demonstrating the capability to design, deploy and manage connectivity at a scale beyond traditional enterprise. The City Power programme accelerated Calmex's development of managed APN and SIM lifecycle management capabilities now available across the full client portfolio.
Delivering Technology At Scale.
From utility-scale IoT deployments to bus rapid transit modernisation and remote satellite connectivity, real infrastructure, real impact.
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