Every connected car, sensor, and robot needs somewhere to plug into the network — this is what that looks like at global scale, and why Tele2 IoT builds on an IoT connectivity platform rather than building one alone.

When Tele2 IoT talks about managed IoT connectivity, three things are usually part of that sentence: the SIM, the connectivity and roaming itself, and a platform to manage all of it. The first two are largely Tele2 IoT’s own domain and its partners like IDEMIA.

The third, which is Tele2 IoT’s 2CONTROL IoT platform is built with Cisco, and at the Tele2 IoT Talks Paris event, Cisco’s Eric Hamel and Darin Kaufman explained why that division of labour exists in the first place.

Managing Connected Devices at Scale

Cisco’s IoT Control Center is the connectivity management platform underneath a large share of Tele2 IoT’s operations — the system that provisions, monitors, and manages connected devices at scale, across networks and borders, so a fleet of vehicles or sensors can be operated as one manageable system rather than a patchwork of individual connections.

The platform recently crossed 300+ million managed devices, according to Kaufman, with more than 50 communication service providers building on it worldwide. The largest single vertical is connected vehicles and fleets, at roughly 140 million devices — which is also why automotive is where Tele2 IoT’s own connectivity requirements have been shaped most directly by what the platform can do.

Hamel, opening the technical portion of the event, framed the core requirement simply:

“There’s nothing that would work as an AI application if you don’t have the right data, at the right time, at the right latency, in the right place.”

That’s a platform problem as much as a network one — connectivity has to work continuously across a vehicle’s life, from the factory floor, onto a shipping vessel, through the dealer lot, and into years of use across different regulatory regions, each with its own rules about roaming and data.

How a Shared Platform Handles Permanent Roaming Restrictions

One detail from Hamel’s talk is easy to miss but explains a lot about why a shared platform matters: some connected-vehicle customers manufacturing in Brazil run on SIMs specifically configured to satisfy local regulations that restrict permanent roaming — a rule most people would never encounter, but one the platform has to handle invisibly, every time, for the vehicle to work.

Multiply that by dozens of countries and verticals, and the case for a shared, purpose-built IoT connectivity platform over a custom-built one becomes obvious: nobody wants to solve “regulatory roaming compliance in Brazil” from scratch for every customer.

Connectivity’s Growing Role in Physical AI Data Collection

Kaufman made a point in the round table that reframes what a connectivity platform is actually for.

Large language models were trained on text that already existed — “trove of written language… stored in lots of machines around the world.” Physical AI — the systems behind autonomous vehicles and robots — has no equivalent archive to draw on. “This spatial data doesn’t exist except in the world,” he said.

The only way to generate it is through connected devices reporting real, physical data back from the field — which means every managed connection on a platform like Control Center isn’t just a device being serviced; it’s a contributor to the data the next generation of AI is trained on.

That reframes what “just” managing connectivity is worth: the network isn’t only the delivery mechanism for AI applications, it’s increasingly the collection mechanism for the data those applications are built from.

The Enterprise IoT Ecosystem Tele2 IoT Unites

Provisioning, security, and device management at planetary scale is a specialised problem, best solved once by a partner built for exactly that. SIM security with IDEMIA, satellite with Skylo, platform with Cisco, connectivity and customer relationships with Tele2 IoT itself — it’s less a supply chain than the operating model of the whole IoT ecosystem being discussed at events like this one.

Every one of those over 300 million devices is a reminder that no single company is meant to own the whole stack — and that the ones who try usually end up rebuilding, badly, what already exists.

Ready to Scale Your IoT Deployment With 2CONTROL?

Connecting devices at scale means planning for what’s ahead: new markets, local roaming rules and growing demand for real-world data, not just what’s needed today. With 2CONTROL and the enterprise IoT ecosystem Tele2 IoT brings together, including partners like Cisco and IDEMIA, you get connectivity built for reliability and scale, without having to build the stack alone.

Talk to an IoT platform expert to explore what’s right for your business.