Today it was revealed that T-Mobile has entered into a partnership with Twilio, a company that makes a cloud communications platform for developers.
Twilio has announced Programmable Wireless, its communications platform that aims to help developers build cellular connectivity into products, like Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Programmable Wireless will use T-Mobile’s cellular network to send data wirelessly to a server or data center.
Twilio Programmable Wireless will use SIM cards to access T-Mobile’s network, and it’ll launch in Q4 2016. Pricing will vary based on the amount of data that you use. For IoT, pricing will be set at $2 per SIM per month and $0.10 per MB across a pool of devices. More data-intensive applications will need to pony up $25 per month for the first GB and $15 for each one thereafter. Programmable voice and text messages are priced per use.
Most IoT devices rely on Wi-Fi for communications, and so Twilio and T-Mobile are teaming up to give developers a more ubiquitous connectivity option. Right now this partnership seems to be largely focused on developers and the enterprise, but for those folks that do want improved connectivity for services and IoT devices, Twilio’s partnership with T-Mobile looks like a big deal.
Here’s what T-Mobile COO Mike Sievert had to say about the Twilio partnership:
“We’re bringing our wildly successful Un-carrier strategy to developers. While the old-guard carriers stifle innovation and try to lock up all the value for themselves, T-Mobile has a different philosophy; we openly partner with world-class companies, like Twilio, to empower entrepreneurs and ignite wireless innovation. By partnering with Twilio to deliver these capabilities to Twilio’s vast developer network, we support developers in building the cellular-connected solutions of tomorrow.”
And Jeff Lawson, CEO and Co-Founder of Twilio, said:
“Modernizing communications and moving it into the realm of software has been Twilio’s mission from day one. With enterprises needing to manage mobility more than ever before and the unrealized promise of IoT, there’s never been a better time to lift the barriers on cellular communications. Our partnership with T-Mobile opens the doors to use cases we’ve only dreamed about until now. With access to programmatic wireless, we’re really excited to see what developers and businesses will build now that this barrier has been removed.”
Source: Twilio