Verizon Ditches Telephone Poles For Street Lamps

Telephone poles are out, and street lights are in — or so says Verizon.

According to a report from Fortune, the telecom provider is replacing telephone poles in favor of street lighting to boost its Internet of Things business. Verizon announced earlier this week that it would buy privately held sensor manufacturer Sensity, a startup that puts sensors in LED street lamps in order to monitor traffic and detect security threats, among other features.

As documented in the PYMNTS.com Internet of Things Tracker, the Internet of Things is having a major effect on the transportation industry and on the economy in general.

Sensity is a California-based startup, aiming to use the recent transition to energy-efficient LED street lights to create a network of sensors. So far, it has raised a total of $74 million, including backing from Cisco Systems and General Electric.

In a statement, Sensity CEO Hugh Martin said the company planned to work with Verizon to deliver IoT-connected systems “on a massive scale, to change how cities and communities operate around the world.”

Verizon has been busy as of late, as its acquisitions have not been limited to just Sensity. The company also agreed to pay $2.4 billion for trucking services firms Fleetmatics and Telogis earlier this summer. It also recently acquired AOL and Yahoo in an effort to expand its consumer advertising business.

According to reports, all those acquisitions are part of a new strategy for Verizon, as the company looks for new areas to add to its $132 billion in revenue, as its traditional wired telephone business shrinks.

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About The Tracker

The PYMNTS.com® Internet of Things Tracker, sponsored by Intel®, showcases companies that are leading the way in all aspects of the Internet of Things. Every month, the Tracker looks at what these companies are doing across the ecosystem in six categories: Devices, Infrastructure, Payments, Security, Software and Data.