WASHINGTON, D.C. – AT&T (NYSE:T), like most telecom service providers, has gotten a foothold in the smart grid market by offering up its network to utilities seeking two-way communication with their customers. Today most deals stop at the network, but AT&T is realizing that the real market opportunity could come from providing services on top of the network to their utility customers.
AT&T had a tiny presence (albeit bigger than other telcos) at Grid Week this week in DC and, according to Rita Mix, utility offer and marketing manager, the conversations she is having with utilities and vendors here are quite different than those she has had in the past. “We’ve seen a huge shift,” she said. “People are now reaching out to us, and it’s not just smaller companies anymore. It is big name brands.”
AT&T provides the cellular technology in devices for Cooper Power Systems and SmartSynch. Without the network connection, they would have to deploy engineers driving around in a truck to identify and diagnose any problems, Mix said. But the companies reaching out to AT&T are interested in more than just embedded network connectivity. They are skeptical about some of the new services they will have to offer, including roaming, time-of-use billing, tracking of mobile devices and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and just handling that huge amount of data in general. These aren’t services the utilities, which have struggled with offering only a monthly bill, can necessarily address on their own, Mix said, They are realizing that the carriers may be their best ally, she said.
Chris Hill, vice president of mobility product management at AT&T Business Solutions, has echoed these sentiments in the past. He said that while AT&T is not interested in reselling electricity, it would sell meters direct to its utility customers if they request it. AT&T is also open to acting as the prime contractor – or even a subcontractor to a big player like General Electric – to bring in partners and create an end-to-end solution for the utility, he said.
Since the market is so new, there is still potentially room for any aggressive first movers. Mix said that AT&T’s services could come in a consulting role or actual data management, but it still remains to be seen how the market will shake out.