Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) is a standards-based Low Power Wide Area technology developed to enable a wide range of new IoT devices and services. NB-IoT significantly improves performance with respect to power consumption of user devices, system capacity and spectrum efficiency, especially in deep coverage.
Vodafone has announced it will start rolling out its narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) focused network in four EU countries from the start of next year. NB-IoT is a low-power network aimed at devices such as smart meters. Vodafone has said it is wheeling out the new tech in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain beginning in Q1 2017.
Telia has furthermore clearly stated that they bet on NB-IoT instead of the unlicensed frequency bands where LoRa resides. A bet they clearly invest in as they launched a first project around NB-IoT just before end of the year 2016 in Norway where they use NB-IoT to connect a smart irrigation system.
Telenor also invests in NB-IoT with a Norwegian smart parking metering pilot in Trondheim launching in January 2017.
So the Nordics are in the forefront in the rollout of the new IoT network.
NB-IoT is in strong contention with other technologies especially LoRa and Sigfox where aggressive roll-outs and heavy investments are underway.
For impartial information about IoT technologies
Partner Fredrik Svensson, Fredrik.svensson@glaze.se, +46 705 08 70 70