The era of the Internet of Things (IoT) has arrived. Telecom operators have become excellent at connecting people to other people but these operators are now faced with new challenges: How can they rapidly expand connectivity while avoiding being "pipelined"? How can they find valuable ecosystem partners in a telecom industry that is this fragmented and how can they attract them to their platforms? How can they build new business models to share the benefits of industry upgrades? The future of IoT is bright, but the road will be hard.

Drawing from the business consulting practices of global operator projects, Huawei has proposed an M2M-to-IoT referential business strategy framework and a new operations system for operators. Huawei has summarized four key paths to create business value: enter the B2B industry based on IoT connections; break through connectivity borders; expand the IoT market, moving towards platforms, applications, and terminals; and bring partners together to build an economic model dedicated to partnership.

Specifically, these paths include:

• Scaling up IoT connectivity
  Operators must seize LPWA market opportunities.
• Enhanced openness for connection-based capabilities
  Cloud and private line services will be sold together.
• Universal, standardized product provisioning
  Common industry requirements must be identified and universal product solutions can then be developed.
• Ecosystem and operations participation
  Operators will participate in smart city operations in certain business scenarios.