The deals are for the Central and South regions as part of the Smart Meter Implementation Programme of Great Britain (SMIP). The UK's Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had already announced that Telefónica UK had been selected as the preferred bidder for two out of the three communications service provider regions.

The SMIP is being claimed as the world’s most ambitious smart meter deployment to date - it will involve rolling out approximately 53m gas and electricity meters across Great Britain by 1 January 2021.

"By providing greater visibility of energy consumption, smart meters will help consumers and small businesses to reduce usage, thereby helping to reduce their Co2 impact. Smart meters also have the potential to be a foundation for smarter homes with other value added services, such as home automation, able to connect through the infrastructure," says the blurb.

The capability is expected to enable more tailored (complicated) tariffs and promote the development of smart grids. The entire £11 billion programme is expected to deliver a net benefit to the UK of £6.7 billion while a smart meter enabled industry could save 2 billion tonnes of Co2 per year in 2020.

Telefónica has constructed a solution based on its existing O2 cellular network and has been complimented with mesh technology to provide connections in hard to reach areas.