TPG Telecom was awarded a 10-year contact by South East Water in the state of Victoria to manage 1 million NB-IoT smart meters, a deal claimed to be the largest of its kind in Australia.

The operator explained in a statement it developed an end-to-end IoT package combining NB-IoT connectivity and SIM and device management to enable large scale deployment of the meters.

South East Water acting GM of Digital Utility Mark Elvins highlighted the cost savings and sustainable benefits digital meters will bring customers, the community and the environment.

The utility provider said following the rollout of nearly 100,000 smart meters in Melbourne’s south-east in March, customers have saved more than AUD5.2 million ($3.4 million) from their bills. It aims to replace 1 million tradition meters with digital ones by 2029.

Digital meters enable customers to track and manage water consumption using daily updated information, providing insights into usage and aiding the identification of leaking taps and appliances, the statement added.

The deployment, covering a 27,000km pipe network, will save an estimated 5 billion litres of water annually through improved network operation and early customer leak detection.

In 2021, rival Telstra forged a 15-year deal with Yarra Valley Water, Melbourne’s largest water utility provider, to use IoT connectivity to support 1 million industrial sensors.