Webinar Highlights: Deploying Mobile IoT – Ask the Experts

Friday 5 May 2017 | Mobile IoT Initiative | Resources |

Mobile IoT (licensed spectrum low power wide area) networks are a high-growth area of the IoT and will play an important role in connecting billions of new devices. Low power wide area (LPWA) technologies have emerged to serve a diverse range of vertical industries and applications that use low data rates, require long battery lives, are low cost, and often operate in remote and hard to reach locations.

In this webinar, experts from Deutsche Telekom, Telit, Veolia, Verizon and the GSMA explored the ongoing deployment and commercialisation of Mobile IoT, the practicalities of deploying LPWA solutions in licensed spectrum, and an insightful use case from the smart cities sector.

Below, read a few key questions that were asked by the audience and answered by one of the experts, or watch the full recording for a more in-depth insight.

 

Jens Olejak, Senior Product Manager, M2M Unit, Deutsche Telekom

Q: What implementation steps are needed for operators to support roaming for NB-IoT initially?

A: To offer international cross-country availability of NB-IoT, the first and foremost precondition is of course a swift rollout of this technology in as many countries by as many operators as possible. Technical roaming for NB-IoT is largely based on LTE and being standardized by the 3GPP. Due to that we further only need an amendment of existing roaming agreements between operators.

 

Svetlana Grant, Director IoT Networks, GSMA

Q: For NB-IoT devices with a Smart Card, is an ISO communication protocol necessary? Is it possible to use any other communication protocol with the Smart Card/SIM card?

A: NB-IoT uses a normal SIM therefore according to ETSI, which provide the standard for UICC, the communication protocol is ISO 7816.

 

Manish Watwani, VP Global Product Marketing, Telit

Q: When do you see the price of a NB-IoT device getting to the low levels of other LPWA devices?

A: NB-IoT will have a much larger ecosystem than many other LPWA networks, so we expect the prices to drop faster compared to other solutions which are controlled by few chipset vendors and marginal module vendors. There are also inherent advantage to NB-IoT technology in a carrier controlled environment, like security, quality of service, etc., which should not be undermined.

 

Q: As more and more ‘things’ connect to each other and the Internet, what approaches should mobile operators take on sensor ecosystem?

A: We see a move towards carrier subsidy models with IoT as well, especially in North America. As the market becomes more competitive, carriers will be motivated to incentivise customers to activate their devices on their networks. This will also be another advantage that LTE-M/NB-IoT ecosystems will have, where cash-rich MNOs can subsidize the upfront HW cost.

 

Sebastien Worbe, Smart City Project Manager, Veolia

Q: As more and more ‘things’ connect to each other and the Internet, what approaches should mobile operators take on sensor ecosystem?

A: Mobile operators can play a role in developing the sensor ecosystem by offering a PoC platform for instance (data repository + device management) and SIM provisioning which will allow sensor profiling (static versus mobile sensor for example). This is key to the success of the IoT as it allows a different set of parameters thus differentiation in terms of battery performances compared to other LPWA technologies.