AMBER Group is eyeing an early 2027 start to the roll-out of a network for Internet of Things (IoT) devices in Jamaica, as its South Africa-based Amber IoT business surpasses one million devices manufactured, sold, and deployed across Africa.

Founder and CEO Dushyant Savadia said the Jamaica-headquartered technology group expects the local roll-out to require an investment of about US$750,000.

“Hopefully, from the starting of next year we’ll start putting our own base stations designed by us internally across Jamaica,” Savadia told the Jamaica Observer in an interview from India on Tuesday.

The timetable is not firm. Amber plans to deploy an 0G network, a low-power, low-cost system designed for machines that need to transmit small amounts of information rather than make calls or stream data.

Savadia said Amber IoT has grown from two product lines in 2023 to about 20 today, including vehicle trackers, electricity and water-meter technology, security equipment, and panic buttons.

“What has happened since then, because there’s a diverse amount of products now inside Amber IoT, it also allowed us to scale very, very fast,” he said.

SAVADIA… Amber Group is targeting an early 2027 roll-out of its Internet of Things network in Jamaica, with an estimated investment of about US$750,000.

South Africa remains its main market, accounting for an estimated 70 per cent of the devices, with the remaining 30 per cent spread across countries including Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, and Kenya.

The business now accounts for a sizeable share of Amber Group’s revenue.

“In terms of revenue share, Amber IoT, I would say, is at least eight to 10 per cent of our global revenue now,” Savadia said.

He did not disclose the dollar value, but said most of Amber Group’s income is earned outside Jamaica.

“The majority of our revenue comes from overseas markets, not from Jamaica. Jamaica is perhaps one of the smallest markets for us in the world,” he told the Business Observer.

Amber’s African IoT operation grew out of its 2022 acquisition of South African hardware manufacturer Intelli-Business Solutions, which it bought outright and renamed Amber IoT.

An Amber IoT team member demonstrates a selection of connected devices at the company’s South Africa operation, where Amber says it has surpassed one million devices manufactured, sold and deployed across Africa.

The company had already spent about 13 years developing IoT products, including equipment for the banking, insurance, and security industries, before Amber acquired it.

“We acquired a company with all of these specialisations and then built up even further to add a lot more devices than what they had produced prior to the purchase of 100 per cent of the shares by Amber Group Jamaica,” Savadia said.

He said South Africa was targeted first because businesses there were already more familiar with IoT technology and how it could be used to cut costs and gather information remotely.

The Jamaican roll-out has taken longer than previously envisaged. In September 2024, Savadia told the Financial Gleaner that Amber would “start deploying next year”, pointing at the time to a 2025 start.

Savadia said Amber has since developed its own transponders and radios for the Jamaican network. Potential uses include remote utility-meter readings, vehicle and asset tracking, and security systems that can send alerts when equipment or containers are breached.

“We will have similar impact like in Africa, in the Caribbean too, where we will roll out our own 0G network on which our devices will speak,” he said.