ST Engineering’s electronics arm, ST Electronics, today announced that its subsidiary, Telematics Wireless, has been awarded a contract worth US$21.5million ($29 million) by Arad Technologies to supply Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) radio transceivers for Arad’s Dialog 3G AMR solutions.

The supply cooperation agreement between Arad and Telematics Wireless takes effect immediately and extends to 2015. Telematics Wireless is a subsidiary of ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems).

Radio transceivers are a key component in smart AMR meters which are used to monitor water, electricity or gas usage. With the growing trend towards the adoption of smart meters for efficient utility monitoring, it has been estimated that about 500m households globally will be converted to use smart AMR meters in the next 10 years.

Arad is a world leader in the supply of smart water meters. The AMR radio transceivers supplied through this contract will be deployed with Arad’s AMR solutions in various markets such as China, Europe, India and the US. Together with Arad’s smart management software, the AMR radio transceivers will provide monitoring of all utility vital signs and will alert utility providers to faults, such as leakages.