Arad, the Israeli company that develops water meters for remote reading, won a tender in Spain

Arad, the Israeli company that develops water meters for remote reading, won a tender from the water corporation in Seville, Spain, for the supply of water meters that transmit via a cellular network and communication equipment, together with the Telefonica company. The scope of the tender is 17 million euros. The water meters are expected to be supplied starting in the fourth quarter of 2022 and for four years.
Gabi Jankovic, CEO of Arad, noted that the demand for smart management of the water infrastructure in cities has increased with the extreme changes in the climate. According to him, various regions of Europe are already experiencing a water shortage that affects daily life. Signs of drought are also visible in Spain, which suffers from the driest weather on the island time.
The current contract was signed following the winning of Telefónica and Erd, through the Spanish subsidiary Contazara, for the supply of 100 thousand units to Canal Isabel, Madrid's water corporation, in December 2021. In this tender as well, Telefonica will place its communication infrastructure in Erd. This, based on the tender requirements of the Spanish Water Corporation to install water meters that transmit via a cellular network in the NB-Iot communication protocol.
Arad supplies water meters for remote reading (Automatic Meter Reading), which operate through a communication infrastructure that it installs independently. The infrastructure receives the information transmitted by the water meter, and transmits it via the Internet. Telefonica, like other mobile communication companies, identified the field of IoT and the smart city as another growth potential, and increased its involvement in the field. For example, it works to integrate into cellular communication networks activities such as data communication from electricity, gas and water meters as well as controlling traffic lights, lighting and garbage disposal.
Arad signed an agreement for global cooperation with Telefonica in tenders for water meters, in order to take advantage of Telefonica's marketing power in Latin American countries, England and Spain. Similar agreements for cooperation with cellular communication companies, regarding water measurement information communication in the NB-Iot protocol, were signed with the American companies AT&T and Razon.
The remote reading water meter market (as opposed to mechanical water meters) is estimated at $1.3 billion per year, and most of it operates in the US. The Arad company, which is controlled by Kibbutzim Ramot Menashe (27%) and Dalia (15%), estimates that the growth rate of the reading water meter market From a distance it will reach 6% and that the demand will expand to other countries.