Verizon Adds Connected Car Services to Portfolio

Along with the connected home, the connected car as introduced here, is set to become another growth area for the automotive, electronics and telecommunications sector. Therefore, it is no surprise that Verizon has acquired Hughes Telematics, a specialist in developing connected services for the automotive industry. For a sum of $612 million, Verizon adds Hughes connected car services to its Verizon Enterprise Solutions group.

Hughes Telematics offers services through its commercial fleet, aftermarket and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) offerings as well products and services for mHealth providers and users. Services centered around its core platform of safety, security, convenience and infotainment offerings.

"We expect M2M and telematics to drive significant growth for Verizon and we're taking an important step forward to accelerate solutions that will unlock more opportunities for existing and new HTI [Hughes Telematics] and Verizon customers," said John Stratton, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions.

Verizon said the acquisition will expand their capabilities in the automotive and fleet telematics marketplace and accelerate growth in key vertical segments, including emerging machine-to-machine (M2M) services applications driven by consumer trends [infotainment] and increasingly connected lifestyles.

Verizon is planning to integrated Hughes Telematics services into its recently launched telematics sulutions platform, to leverage Verizon’s cloud, information technology, security and communication infrastructure.

Jeff Leddy, CEO of HTI, said of the acquisition, “This combination represents an exciting opportunity to accelerate our innovation of new services and global growth and to bring these services to more customers and industries worldwide."