GSMA Mobile IoT Initiative Welcomes First Low Power Wide Area Solutions at Mobile World Congress

The first live demonstrations of Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) solutions in licensed spectrum will be on display at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the GSMA announced today. Visitors will experience a diverse range of solutions underpinned by three complementary technology standards known as Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT), Extended Coverage EGPRS (EC-EGPRS) and LTE Machine Type Communication (Cat-M). The GSMA’s Mobile IoT Initiative has aligned the mobile industry behind these standards, which have been accepted by 3GPP for Release 13. The availability of commercial solutions in 2016 will remove market fragmentation, provide market reassurance and help to accelerate the Internet of Things (IoT) through the availability of very low cost, mobile operator-connected devices.

“LPWA is an emerging, high-growth area of the Internet of Things but it requires common, global standards in licensed spectrum in order for it to scale effectively and deliver secure, reliable and robust performance,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. “With high-quality managed networks, mobile operators are well placed to deliver these industry standard solutions which offer customers a clear choice and we are excited to see the industry move so quickly to provide commercial solutions.”

GSMA Mobile IoT Initiative

The Mobile IoT Initiative is supported by 30 of the world’s leading mobile operators, OEMs, chipset, module and infrastructure companies¹, and is designed to accelerate the commercial availability of LPWA solutions in licensed spectrum. LPWA networks are designed for M2M applications that have low data rates, require long battery lives and operate unattended for long periods of time, often in remote locations. They are expected to be used for a wide variety of applications such as industrial asset tracking, safety monitoring, water and gas metering, smart grids, city parking, vending machines and city lighting.

Mobile IoT Technology Demonstrations at Mobile World Congress.

There are already a number of commercial trials and pilots of LPWA solutions underway around the world; however, at Mobile World Congress visitors will be amongst the first to try them out for themselves. At the GSMA Innovation City located at Stands 3A11 and 3A31 in Hall 3, Fira Gran Via there will be a number of demos including:

• Smart Agriculture/Connected Vineyard : Ericsson, Intel and Orange will showcase how EC-EGPRS will address the challenge of extending coverage to difficult-to-reach indoor locations such as basements as well as remote rural locations, such as vineyards and farms.
• Connected eBike : Ericsson, Intel and Nokia will showcase an innovative bike tracking solution that utilises NB-IoT technology to track the real-time location and status of eBikes through urban underground or even rural environments with lower signal levels.
• Fleet tracking and Smart Grid monitoring : Ericsson and Intel will demonstrate how Cat-M technology supports extended coverage in underground or rural areas for IoT applications such as fleet management and smart grid management.
• Mobile IoT Water Meter : Huawei, Neul, Vodafone and u-blox will demonstrate how NB-IoT technology helps to provide real time usage information and fault management using live results relayed from Vodafone’s Proof of Concept in Valencia, Spain.
• Connected Consumer and Industrial Devices: Sierra Wireless will demonstrate how Cat-M will be used for a variety of consumer devices, such as connected shoes, wearables and healthcare devices, as well as industrial devices, such as smart electric meters.
• Pet Tracking: Huawei and Vodafone will be showing how NB-IoT can be used to make sure your beloved pets are kept safe and sound.

Global NB-IoT Summit

The GSMA NB-IoT Forum, which is part of the GSMA’s wider Mobile IoT initiative, will also host its first ever Global NB-IoT Summit at Mobile World Congress. The half-day event will explore the value of NB-IoT technologies from an operator and OEM perspective and examine how the industry is working together to realise the full potential of the technology. The GSMA NB-IoT Forum was launched by major mobile operators, network suppliers and chipset and module manufacturers to accelerate the ecosystem for NB-IoT solutions².The event will take place on Sunday, 21 February 2016. For further information and to register please follow this link: www.gsma.com/connectedliving/events/gsma-global-nb-iot-summit/.

Connected Living Seminar at Mobile World Congress 2016

The GSMA will also host a seminar on Wednesday, February 24 with industry experts at MWC 2016 covering the impact of LPWA networks. To register or for more information please go to: www.gsma.com/connectedliving/events/connected-living-seminar-securely-scaling-the-internet-of-things/

MWC 2016: Get Involved at Mobile World Congress 2016

For more information on the 2016 Mobile World Congress including how to attend, exhibit or sponsor, visit www.mobileworldcongress.com. Follow developments and updates on Mobile World Congress on Twitter @GSMA using #MWC16, on our LinkedIn company page http://gsma.at/GSMALinkedIn, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gsma. For more information on the GSMA Innovation City, follow #gsmainnovationcity.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

1.) The GSMA’s Mobile IoT Initiative is backed by key industry players including AT&T, Bell Canada, Bermuda Digital Communications, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Etisalat, Huawei, Gemalto, Intel, KDDI, KT, LG Uplus, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Oberthur Technologies, Ooredoo, Orange, Qualcomm Incorporated, Sequans, Sierra Wireless, Singtel, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, Telstra, u-blox, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.

2.) The GSMA NB-IoT Forum is supported by key industry players including ARM, China Mobile, China Unicom, DT, Ericsson, Etisalat, GTI, Huawei, Intel, KDDI, KT, LG Uplus, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Oberthur Technologies, Qualcomm Incorporated, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, u-Blox and Vodafone.

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.

For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.

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Contact information

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