Ericsson to deploy 625,000 smart electrical readers in Estonia
The Swedish communications technology and services provider is currently deploying a smart-metering network in Estonia in partnership with leading energy distributor Elektrilevi.
Elektrilevi, the major Estonian electricity distribution network operator, signed a contract with Ericsson for the supply, deployment, systems integration and running of a smart-metering network in 2012.
As part of the deal, Ericsson is providing a solution to replace all Elektrilevi electricity meters with more than 625,000 remotely readable smart meters. The agreement also includes the implementation of a central automatic meter reading system (AMR) for data gathering and integration to Elektrilevi systems, as well as AMR managed services during the rollout period.
The project is halfway through, with roughly 300,000 meters. Ericsson claims that the smart-meter solution ensures more accurate and timely billing, shorter outages, and improved possibilities to reduce power consumption.