M2M and IoT connectivity will grow into a billion-dollar business for some major telecoms Operator.

The global number of cellular M2M subscribers reached 265 million at the end of 2015 Berg Insight estimates that the global number of cellular M2M subscribers increased by 23 percent during 2015 to reach 265.2 million at the end of the year – corresponding to around 3 percent of all mobile subscribers. 

Until 2020, the number of cellular M2M subscribers is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.9 percent to reach 744.2 million at the end of the period. During the same period, cellular M2M network revenues are forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 23.3 percent from € 8.0 billion in 2015 to approximately € 22.8 billion in 2020. 

Meanwhile the monthly ARPU is expected to remain stable at around € 2.50. East Asia was the largest region, closely followed by Western Europe and North America. Altogether they accounted for around 76 percent of the global cellular M2M subscriber base at the end of 2015. 

Until 2020, the relative share of the regions is expected to decrease slightly as adoption takes off in other parts of the world. At the end of 2015, East Asia was the largest regional market with 90.4 million cellular M2M subscribers, growing 25 percent year-on-year. Western Europe came second with 59.0 million M2M subscribers and 21 percent year-on-year growth. North America ranked third with 52.5 million cellular M2M subscribers, and a year-on-year growth rate of 24 percent. Among individual countries, China was clearly number one with around 70 million M2M subscribers, ahead of the US with approximately 50 million M2M subscribers. 

The combined size of the EU+EFTA market was around 64 million M2M subscribers. 

Berg Insight believes that M2M/IoT has reached a stage of early maturity where a number of players have capitalised on envisioned opportunities to develop substantial new businesses. At the beginning of 2015, the ten largest mobile operators in the M2M market had an estimated combined subscriber base of 164.3 million and year-on-year growth rates of 15–35 percent. China Mobile has an exceptional market position, as the dominant player in the domestic mobile industry. 

At the end of Q1-2015, the M2M subscriber base was an estimated 46.2 million. Vodafone and AT&T are the top international market players with their respective main bases in Europe and North America. The groups were head-to-head in terms of volume with over 21 million M2M subscribers each. China Unicom and Verizon Wireless were other top five players with 13–14 million connections each. Telefónica, Softbank/Sprint, Deutsche Telekom, Telenor and America Móvil were other top ten players with 8–12 million M2M subscribers each. A common characteristic for them all is that they are multi-regional operations across Europe, the Americas or Asia-Pacific. Another sign of maturity in the M2M/IoT industry is the release of revenue figures from some telecom operator groups. Verizon and Vodafone reported quarterly M2M/IoT revenues in the range of € 150–200 million each in the first half of 2015 and could be on track to reach € 1 billion on an annual basis within a few years’ time. Both groups have substantial telematics businesses, originally established through acquisitions. 

Besides traditional connectivity and professional services, they generate a considerable share of their sales from automotive products, driver assistance services and connected automotive applications. The wireless M2M/IoT technology landscape is rapidly changing. 2G networks are gradually taken out of service to be replaced by more efficient 4G technology. At the same time, new enhancements are being added to the LTE standard to better accommodate typical M2M use-cases with large numbers of devices and very low data requirements. In a few years, LTE-M wireless modules will be available for the same price as today’s GPRS modules, delivering superior performance using less network resources. A new generation of LPWA technologies hit the market during 2015, offering an alternative roadmap to low cost IoT connectivity outside of the traditional mobile network environment. At the end of the year, the established players in the telecom industry however took back the initiative. In December 2015, the 3GPP accepted the new NB-IoT standard for lightweight M2M communication based on mobile network infrastructure. The NB-IoT and LTE-M standards will be included in 3GPP Release 13, due for publication in January 2016. Berg Insight believes that the initiative will become successful in establishing a global standard for lightweight IoT communication on public networks in the next 3–5 years. NB-IOT has good prospects of becoming the dominant technology for LPWA, although other standards will most likely also remain strong in niche segments.

Source:Berg Insight, 

Vodafone, Huawei Trial Pre-Standard NB-IoT

Vodafone Group, Huawei, and u-blox have completed the first successful commercial trial of pre-standard NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things). NB-IoT is a new technology that will extend the utilization of Internet of Things (IoT) by making it more efficient to connect objects requiring a long battery life and are located in hard to reach areas to the Internet by ways of mobile connectivity. Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology will connect more objects to the Internet of Things. Able to be deployed over existing mobile networks, NB-IoT has strong industry support as an LPWA technology in licensed spectrum.

Vodafone and Huawei successfully integrated the technology into the operator’s existing mobile network in Spain and then sent the first pre-standard NB-IoT message to a u-blox module installed in a water meter.

Water meters are just one of the many objects that could eventually be connected using NB-IoT. NB-IoT is a LPWA technology that offers low cost, extended battery life, wide area coverage for objects requiring a long range mobile connection (e.g. in basements or in shaded areas) and low power consumption (many devices are not connected to main power supplies or are located in areas where batteries cannot be easily swapped). NB-IoT promises to provide up to 10-year battery life and deep indoor penetration.

The improved penetration and low power requirements enable devices to connect using NB-IoT in a simple and efficient manner over an established mobile network. NB-IoT is viewed by the industry as the answer for enterprise applications in a range of different areas, from utility meters to sensor monitoring to asset-tracking.

The pre-standard NB-IoT commercial technology trial was the first of its kind to successfully implement narrowband communications using cellular bands. The deployment of NB-IoT in a licensed cellular spectrum means it is secure and less susceptible to interference and can provide a better guarantee of service.

Matt Beal, Director of Innovation and Architecture, Vodafone Group, commented: “Vodafone has led the development of NB-IoT, the LPWA technology in licensed spectrum that has gained huge industry support. The completion of this first commercial trial with our partners is further evidence of that. Once commercialised, NB-IoT will provide tangible benefits for our enterprise customers, principally making it feasible to connect more devices to IoT.” David Wang, President of Huawei’s Wireless Network Product Line, said: ”NB-IoT technology has been recognised by the industry. This long-established joint innovation initiative with Vodafone strengthens our commitment to providing innovative solutions to help customers meet their business challenges and to lead the development of the technology and industry ecosystem. Together with Vodafone, we will build a better connected world.”

Andreas Thiel, Executive Director, Cellular Products at u-blox, said: “This collaboration demonstrates that u-blox is a key player in the IoT market, in terms of technical expertise and thought leadership. Along with our partners, we are driving innovation in NB-IoT technology to serve the industry as a whole, and are fully supportive of technology based on global standards.”

Further trials and proof of concept deployments are planned by the companies. Industry technology standards for NB-IoT will be set in early 2016 with Release-13 from global standards organisation 3GPP.

Source:Lightreading

Ten telecoms industry predictions for 2016

Hereafter ten predictions for the telecoms industry in the coming year.

1. The EC’s negative view and ruling on market consolidation stalls M&A activity

Northstream unfortunately believes that during 2016, regulators will continue their hard and negative stance against market consolidation in the European mobile telecoms market. As a result, the potential mergers between Three/O2 in the UK and Three/Wind in Italy will not be approved. As a reaction to the negative ruling, operators across Europe will stall M&A activity and instead investigate alternative ways of cutting costs. Measures we will see are reduced CAPEX, even more network sharing, streamlining and out-sourcing.

Despite cost cutting, it’s only the top two or three players that have credible and solid business cases with which to deliver meaningful revenues and profits. The desire for M&A activity, therefore, is simply a natural evolution of the market. In the end, the EC will be forced to realize the new reality of the industry and re-evaluate their stance on in-market consolidation. As a result, 2016 will be a lost year for investments in Europe. By 2018, at the very latest, the current stance will change. Meanwhile, the regions that understand that consolidation is inevitable will be able to attract investment and gain an advantage.

2. Huawei must respond to Nokia and Ericsson moves

While the EC may be keen to prevent operator consolidation it has less jurisdiction over telecoms vendors. 2015 saw a lot of M&A activity in that space, with Nokia’s acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent the headline event. The broad thinking behind the move is to combine Nokia’s mobile strengths with A-Lu’s in fixed networks and that seems to have got their competitors thinking. Ericsson decided to take a more cautious approach by partnering with Cisco, but Huawei has so far made no significant M&A moves.

Huawei may believe its existing capabilities are more than enough to see off its augmented competitors but Telecoms.com wouldn’t be surprised to see the Chinese giant do a bit of shopping to bolster its position. Of course there’s no point in buying just for the sake of it, so much will depend on what, if any, strategic vulnerabilities the company might think it has. Will it look at fixed networking to counter Nokia or maybe address the enterprise comms strength anticipated by the Ericsson Cisco partnership? Time will tell but the smart money must be on Huawei looking to make a statement in 2016.

3. Chinese smartphone vendors are rising, not as fast as you would think, but don’t be fooled…

Northstream predicts that the Chinese vendors are not yet ready to challenge the dominant players in the West and they will continue to focus on growing/competing domestically in 2016. However, we do foresee that the Chinese vendors will be able to flood the emerging markets with their ”best bang for the buck” products, as soon as the ongoing developments of mobile infrastructure in these countries unlock the huge market potential.

Then they will have built the brand, capacity and competence to move-in big time in Europe and the US, among other places. The current market leaders should watch out, and perhaps revisit the reasons why another once-dominant market leader failed to differentiate itself and eventually spiraled into non-existence.

 4. Someone will finally demonstrate the point of smart watches

The global wearables market exploded in 2015, tripling in size thanks largely to Apple and Xiaomi entering the market. While it was inevitable that these two consumer tech giants would be able to call upon millions of loyal fans to buy their latest shiny things, there is little evidence that people are using them for anything special.

What is the point of a smart watch? Is it just a dumb peripheral that primarily serves to spare you the hassle of having to put your hand in your pocket to get your smartphone out? Is it a standalone smart device that will supplant the smartphone and have us all talking to our wrists like something out of a 60s science fiction TV show? Is it nothing more than a glorified fitness band?

Telecoms.com is predicting, albeit with little confidence, that somebody will definitively answer these questions by coming up with a genuinely compelling use for them. For us the biggest obstacle is the UI. You can’t type on them and voice UIs such as Siri still haven’t caught on as much as expected. Maybe it will be some kind of gesture UI, allowing you to write by waving your hand around, or maybe it will be IoT cleverness to do with ticketing or retail. Let’s see.

5. Wi-Fi calling sees huge increase in service launches

Northstream expects that voice can take the same route as data and over time the majority of indoor voice traffic can be served by Wi-Fi. A positive consequence will be that operators can free up and re-farm more spectrum in the 2G and 3G bands that is currently used for voice. In order to provide seamless transition between cellular and Wi-Fi calls, operators need also to support VoLTE, which will boost the use case for VoLTE. In addition Wi-Fi calling can have positive effect on IMS deployments and use cases.

Native Wi-Fi calling raises some strategic questions though. Operators need to closely assess the impact on the enterprise segment, the perceived quality and value of their voice services, as well as what role to play in the provision of Wi-Fi infrastructure. Native Wi-Fi calling is one more step towards the separation of access and service. Wi-Fi can also increasingly be seen as the main competitor to 5G, particularly for indoor voice and data coverage in the future.

Not surprisingly, some operators are cautious to surrender control over the quality of their voice service to a device that now can choose between cellular and Wi-Fi. But overall, we believe that Wi-Fi calling offers more attractive benefits than challenges and we will see a rapid growth of launches in 2016 and 2017.

6. Multiplay will continue to grow in importance

As CSPs continue to feel the pinch from shrinking ARPUs, OTT competition and all the other usual CSP sob-story suspects they will continue to look for solutions offering ever more comprehensive bundles to their target markets.

2015 saw some big consolidation moves with the aim of creating a compelling fixed/mobile/content play to entice digital consumers. The combination of the UK’s dominant fixed line player – BT – with its biggest MNO – EE – is set to make things very awkward for their competitors, especially when you factor in BT’s content investments, such as premium sport. The same pattern can be seen across the world, most recently in Canada.

Telecoms.com expects this trend to continue throughout 2016, with some surprisingly big and counter-intuitive acquisitions. Content is likely to take on even greater importance to counter the perennial ‘dumb pipe’ dilemma, so look for unlikely partnerships between telecoms and media companies along the lines ofVerizon’s acquisition of AOL.

7. Cloud giants and mobile operators partner for third party services

The telecom operators’ service offerings are focusing specifically around reliability of service and high security, although it is unclear what of these aspects is not already provided by the current global IT players in the space. Due to regulatory demands on localizing sensitive user data, IT players are setting up local data centers and partnering with local players for storing and managing sensitive user data.

When it comes to the PaaS and IaaS market, the leading OTTs (Google, Amazon & Microsoft) are adding so much capability to their platforms through heavy R&D they are gaining distance on the more local and regionalised players. At Northstram we therefore predict that operators will increase collaboration with these players, offering Managed Services and infrastructure services, and acting as resellers, rather than competing head to head. Due to regulations and local customer requirements, these global players will need local partners and connectivity, and managed connectivity is of course the core of the operators business.

8. NFV will come to life

2016 will see NFV continue to move from a presentation slide to the real world. 2015 saw 30 rollouts of NFV in the field from 15 operators, which demonstrated success mainly by virtualizing the LTE core network (evolve packet core) and customer premises equipment, helping telcos develop new enterprise services and offerings.

The plethora of proof of concept trials demonstrated at the ETSI NFV group over recent years indicate that there exists enormous potential for a variety of additional use-cases for NFV, and 2016 will see a number of Tier 1 operators and other early adopters of the technology begin to move more aggressively towards more sophisticated, virtualized infrastructure.

Telecoms.com also expects a wider majority of telcos who are yet to begin take-up start developing and rolling out solutions targeting the easy NFV wins, with industry vendors now more experienced in deploying live virtualized functions on the network.

In the long term, operators expect NFV-enabled infrastructures to change the enterprise service delivery landscape, and 2016 will see the early stages of this evolution as operators begin to benefit from the increased agility and flexibility with which they are able to deliver new services to their customers.

9. IoT starts walking the talk

As projected in Northstream’s predictions last year, IoT consumer demand has really started to take off. Northstream believes that in 2016, we will see continued strong growth. This will be stimulated by an increasing number of exciting offerings reaching the market in important and well established segments such as connected cars, connected homes and gaming/augmented reality gadgets.

All global ICT vendors in the world are focusing heavily on IoT as one of the key areas for future growth, but it is through innovative startup companies they will learn which applications and services that will best address consumer and enterprise needs. Innovation will spring from the startup arena – yet these players will be primarily dependent on established players to succeed in the market. Therefore, Northstream believes that 2016 will be the year when the IoT M&A wave truly hits the industry.

10. The foundations of 5G will become clear

Although the next major generation of wireless technology was still considered to be five years away from becoming a reality, 5G was still a dominant theme at Mobile World Congress earlier this year and is bound to be so once again in February 2016.

Telecoms.com expects the big difference one year on to be a lot more substance and granularity to all this 5G talk, with specific technologies, standards and use-cases being discussed with greater confidence as likely components to the eventual 5G standard.

In a running poll on the Telecoms.com home page readers were asked what they think will be the most important 5G technology. The clear winner was ‘IoT support’, but specific technologies such as SON, massive MIMO and full duplexing also featured strongly. Meanwhile in our Future of Mobile Networks survey the most important single technological feature of 5G was thought to be spectral efficiency.

All of these are likely to play a part, but by the end of 2016 we should have a good sense of exactly what the key component parts of the 5G standard will be.

Source: Telecoms.com and Northstream

A Virtual SIM: Implications for Hardware, Consumers & Carriers

Your mobile SIM card will soon disappear.The SIM card (as we know it) is such a fundamental part of the cellular business model that a change to that construct has far-reaching implications for hardware developers, consumers and carriers.

What is a virtual SIM or e-SIM? 

The concept of replacing a ‘physical SIM’ for a ‘virtual’ or ‘e-SIM’ is not new, but in the last 6 months hardware developers (Apple and Samsung) and carriers have  come to the table to plan its implementation. As early as March this year, as part of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, it was announced that the GSMA (the association that represents carriers) is working  to create a common and global specification for the remote over-the-air provisioning and management of connectivity to consumer devices. A long list of mobile operators (including AT&T, Etisalat, NTT DOCOMO, Orange and Telstra) provided comment on their commitment to the new SIM format.

Specifically, an e-SIM card is built into the phone and is not tied to any single carrier. This makes it far easier and far faster for subscribers to switch carriers – something that consumer electronics manufacturers are also keen to adopt for connected items around the house as part of the Internet of Things (IOT). The information on the SIM will be compliant with all operators, meaning a user can decide to change operator with a change in settings. There will also be no physical swapping over required by the user and new SIM will not be required, nor should there be any time delay in switching the e-SIM to its new purpose.

What are the major implications for Hardware, Consumers and Carriers?

Hardware developers

Blackberry, through Movirtu and Apple with its ‘Apple SIM‘ have already started to trial the virtual SIM concept allowing users to select between multiple carriers. The major implications for hardware developers are:

Global deployment: Hardware manufacturers will have the ability to deploy their mobile hardware anywhere in the world without concern for SIM or carrier specifications. This will help to streamline design but may also remove market barriers for new mobile hardware.

A standard for IOT  devices: A common standard for e-SIM removes at least one more barrier for manufacturing IOT devices. It can enable multiple devices (or things) to access customised network connections rather than setting up with multiple physical SIM cards.

Consumers

Many of the benefits of an e-SIM lie with the consumer – More choice, greater options for connectivity and a seamless customer experience. There are many implications for consumers but the top few are:

Choice of providers: One of the main benefits is choice of providers. As e-SIMs are rolled out, consumers will have access to any connection at anytime through whichever network they choose. It may even be possible that software will eventually automatically choose the network based on speed or spot price.

Global roaming: Ever waited in a queue in the airport at another country to pick up a local SIM? A virtual SIM would eliminate this experience potentially boiling it down to a one-click new country activation. A truly mobile experience plus no more global roaming charges.

Multiple numbers: For some consumer’s the ability to have multiple numbers has meant switching SIM cards on phones or carrying multiple devices. A virtual SIM opens up the possibility to have multiple numbers on a single device which could create identity options for consumers.

Carriers

On face value, carriers will face the most change from a virtual SIM environment. It removes yet another layer of consumer dependency on operators helping to create conditions for even greater commoditisation of the network.  That said, representatives from carriers like Francisco Montalvo of Telefónica Group are embracing the changes a virtual SIM will offer:

“Remote SIM is a natural evolution in our industry. Making the right choices now in terms of technology, usability and user experience will ensure our consumers a successful transition without compromising the quality of service that they expect from the mobile network operators”

This evolution is likely to lead to the following major implications for carriers:

New pricing mechanisms: With a lower barrier to switching carriers devices will become ‘carrier agnostic’. To counter this,  Operators are likely to embrace new contracting methods like ‘pay to play’ or models not tied to data usage. Lengthy contracts are going to carry less weight as consumers have more incentive to bring their own device and ‘shop around’ for the best carrier deals.

Changes to operations: The process of provisioning a service can be quite cumbersome and take up to 2 days for many carriers. Virtual SIMs will put pressure on carriers to provide near real-time provisioning of services out of the virtual environment – a capability many carriers do not have today. At the MWC Shanghai this month Gemalto, a leading SIM provider, has been demonstrating “remote provisioning of consumer devices based on GSMA architecture”. It is an example that other non-carriers may start to own this part of the carrier operations.

New security and privacy concerns: A virtual SIM adds extra complexity for security and privacy protection for customers. For example, as customers ‘carrier switch’ to find good deals, carriers will need to be able to offer customers real-time protection and privacy. For many carriers this may be a difficult service even as customers are on 1-2 year long contracts.

New revenue streams and differentiation: New revenue streams such as those relating to Internet of Things, OTT services or device sales are likely to appear as a result of virtual SIMs. Virtual SIM will enable more devices to connect to carrier networks but OTT services will lock customers in. Without differentiation it may be a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of price.

A Virtual SIM is an exciting step for the telecommunications industry. It offers up the potential for simple and seamless interactions between carriers and consumers as well as opening the barriers for growth in new device categories. Although many carriers are championing the change, they stand to lose the most from removing this customer dependency. They will need to respond with new charging models, transforming their operations and developing new ‘sticky’ revenue models.

Source: strategy4telcomediatech

NB-IoT will connect the internet of hidden things.

When the internet of things is spoken about it is often in reference to exciting innovations such as self-ordering fridges and cars that book themselves into the garage. Yet it will soon be easier to also connect billions of objects, many of which are hidden, both metaphorically and sometimes actually, but still have an important role to play making life better.

The benefits of LPWA connections

There are many objects that will benefit from a dedicated Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology which provides a long range mobile connection and low power consumption (many devices are not connected to mains power or are in areas where one would not want to swap out batteries regularly).

Monitoring devices like water and gas meters often lie in basements, deeply shadowed areas and even underground pipes. By installing connected flow meters around a water distribution network, for instance, a utility company could automatically detect leaks, meaning less time, cost and disruption digging up roads. Battery life and low install cost are also critical for local authorities across the world wanting to install more connected parking sensors. Achieving this will reduce congestion and carbon emissions by informing drivers about the location of parking spaces.     

It is not just hidden things that NB-IoT will connect. Smart bins, which efficiently report when they are full, have the same need for long battery life communications hardware.

NB-IoT

Vodafone, the world leader in M2M technology, is also leading the development of Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), a radio interface which will be dedicated to connecting LPWA services.

NB-IoT will reuse an existing Radio Access Network and transmission while at the same time will deploy a separate dedicated and optimised core network (using the latest virtual network technology).

Operating in licensed spectrum, NB-IoT will also ensure performance and reliability over the lifetime of these devices.

An attractive aspect for industries using NB-IoT is that they can leave the connectivity provision to operators such as Vodafone rather than putting in their own, proprietary solutions. Vodafone already has a global M2M network that will connect with our NB-IoT access layer.

The NB-IoT forum

NB-IoT (originally called the Cellular Internet of Things) has entered standards work in 3GPP. It is also one of the systems in the GSMA’s Mobile IoT Programme, which is promoting industry-wide alignment and engaging with early adopter customers.

Most recently, major industry players Vodafone, China Mobile, China Unicom, Ericsson, Etisalat, the GSMA, GTI, Intel, Huawei, LG Uplus, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated, Telecom Italia and Telefonica have laid the foundations for the creation of the NB-IoT forum which will bring together all of the industry and ecosystem partners in a way that will help bring NB-IoT to the market as quickly as possible.

Vodafone, China Mobile, Etisalat, LG Uplus, Shanghai Unicom and Telecom Italia will also support the creation of five NB-IoT open labs worldwide, which will focus on new service innovation, industry development, interoperability tests and product compliance certification.

Vodafone has already started customer trials of pre-NB-IoT technology. Pre-commercial deployment is expected during the second half of 2016, with commercial roll-out in early 2017.  

Source: Vodafone

Is Sigfox / LoRa the new WiMAX? – A comparison to LTE-M and NB-LTE

From hype to niche technology

Do you remember back in 2007 when there was a hot debate about which mobile broadband technology would succeed? HSDPA had already been deployed and HSPA (HPUPA and HSDPA) was just on the starting blocks, but it was not really seen as being powerful enough for the expected capacity and performance needs in mobile broadband. WiMAX on the other hand, had a good opportunity to make the transition to mobile communications. It came out favorably in studies that analyzed the pros and cons of the competing technologies and had major support from the WIMAX Forum, with over 400 members (including Nokia/NSN) creating a strong internet-centric and device-focused ecosystem. Additionally, it was perceived that WiMAX had a strong timing advantage over HSPA+ or LTE.

We now see a similar discussion happening around Sigfox, LoRa and other alternative Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) access technologies for the Internet of Things (IoT). The availability of 3GPP Rel. 12 Cat.0 technology with power saving mode is a big step forward, but it is probably comparable to the position of HSPA back in 2007. The key step will be the availability of 3GPP Rel. 13 technologies like LTE for machine-to-machine communications (LTE-M) or Narrow-Band LTE (NB-LTE), but as before, one of the hottest discussion topics we see in the market is the timing, since it will be ready for deployment about a year later than Sigfox or LoRa.

Let’s go back to the mobile broadband technologies. As we all know, HSPA+ and LTE now dominate the market with more than 400 networks each in commercial operation worldwide and today, WiMAX remains a niche technology. Factors other than initial availability, such as a proper evolution path for existing 3G networks or licensed spectrum availability, were more important in deciding the outcome. The decisive aspect was proper interworking with existing 2G/3G networks including support for roaming and pre-paid billing. WiMAX started as a fixed-wireless internet technology and it took time to provide the functionality that was expected by mobile users, and thus the initial time-to-market advantage was negated.

LPWAN vs LTE - M/NB - LTE

Are LTE-M and NB-LTE the solutions? 

As mentioned before LTE-M and NB-LTE. LTE-M and NB-LTE are great technologies and will compete with LoPWAN. LTE-M, NB-LTE and LPWAN address the same market segment in IoT. Both LTE technologies will offer worldwide roaming. For Sigfox and LoRa, roaming is not supported. Nevertheless LTE-M and NB-LTE may be the wrong technologies to cover the manufacturing plants of Volkswagen all over the world. Be aware LTE <> LTE. We already have 43 LTE bands on our nice green planet. With my LoRa proposal above you will use  the 868 or 915 MHz band only and you can place your order now. For LTE-M and NB-LTE you have to wait. Even if I ship you samples of LTE-M or  NB-LTE modules tomorrow then you will not be able to use them, because the LTE-M or NB-LTE networks are not yet built out.  

Source:IoT M2M Blog and Nokia Network Blog 

Urban Population Growth

http://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/urbanmap/

Recommendations for operators to address the Smart Cities market

IHS has three key recommendations for operators as they develop their strategies to address the smart cities market:

Partner to reduce risks: Operators should partner with application developers and others in the value chain to reduce their risk, level of investment, and time to market. The smart cities market is still fragmented and use cases and market requirements are still evolving. Operators will still be able to capture a substantial share of revenue in the value chain beyond managed connectivity by developing horizontal, generic value-added service capabilities and components that can be configured and applied in a modular fashion for specific smart city engagements. In particular, municipal government-driven initiatives are likely to require a high degree of customization and may require the operator to partner and share revenue with local businesses in any case, as part of the city’s economic development scheme.

Utilize multiple connectivity technologies: The smart city deployments are making use of multiple types of connectivity technologies. Operators will be best positioned if they have the capability to offer services using multiple technologies. In particular, IHS believes that LPWAN will play an increasingly important role in the smart cities market. There are a number of LPWAN technologies using unlicensed spectrum in the market at present, with SIGFOX and LoRaWAN achieving an especially high profile. In addition, the mobile industry’s 3GPP standards body is working to develop a 3GPP narrowband standard that will be compatible with existing LTE infrastructure. This standard, known as NB-IoT (Narrow Band - Internet of Things), should be finalized with Release 13 in March 2016 and available commercially in the first quarter of 2017. 

Broaden focus beyond M2M-type use cases:  It is important for operators to keep in mind that smart cities will involve a range of data sources, in particular current government databases and crowd-sourced social media feeds. Operators tend to place their smart cities programs within their M2M/IoT business units, but will need to develop a holistic approach that incorporates these other types of data sources into deployments. In addition, smart city projects will often require the ability to share data with multiple third-party stakeholders. Consequently, IHS recommends that operators develop a plan to enable multi-party data aggregation and distribution, whether through open application programming interfaces (APIs) or open service layer standards, such as FIWARE and OneM2M.

Source:IHS

Smart Cities Global Cellular Connection Revenue Forecast , by segment , 2014 - 2020

Source:IHS

Semtech LoRa™ RF Platform Video

Water Resources in entire planet

Urban Population Growth Drives the Need for Smart Cities

Traditional City vs Smart City

Source: Smart Cities Council

The Path to a Smarter City

Industrial IoT Platform Capabilities

According to ARC there are 8 broad capabilities that a well-rounded platform for the Industrial Internet of Things needs to have.  In no particular order: Device interface and management.  IIoT data has to come from somewhere, and a lot of it will come from various sensors attached to devices, and through gateways and device connectivity platforms.  An IIoT platform will need a way to establish and manage connections to those devices, and collect and route the data from those devices. 

See more at: 

City We Need

SAFETY

Global studies show that 60% of all urban residents in developing countries have been victims of crime at least once over the past five years, 70% of them in Latin America and Africa. Urbanization, particularly in the developing world, has been accompanied by increased levels of crime, violence, and lawlessness.

The growing violence and feeling of insecurity that city dwellers are facing daily is one of the major challenges around the world. In some countries, crime and violence have been exacerbated by the proliferation of weapons, substance abuse, and youth unemployment. Crime and violence impact the on everyday life of city residents. Women and children are often the most affected, especially when fear hinders their access to services.

The impact of crime and insecurity restricts urban social and economic development, and often jeopardizes opportunities and pro-poor policies. Without a deliberate effort to address this issue, the prospects of future development and poverty reduction are limited.

Source: UN - Habitat

The role of Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) in the Connected Car.

Dedicated short-range communications technology, or DSRC, is one of the primary areas of research and development for a network exclusively for transportation-related uses. Here are some of the basics on DSRC.

What is DSRC?

DSRC is is “a two-way short-to-medium-range wireless communications capability that permits very high data transmission critical in communications-based active safety applications,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, which heads up much of the research related to DSRC. The Federal Communications Communications Commission set aside 75 MHz of spectrum around the 5.9 GHz band (5.850-5.925 GHz) band in 1999 to be used for vehicle-related safety and mobility systems.

In general, intelligent transportation systems — smarter infrastructure, as well as vehicles with new driver assistance and eventually, autonomous driving features — are seen as a way to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities, as well as improve traffic congestion and fuel efficiency.

How will DSRC be used?

It is anticipated that DSRC will be used for both vehicle-to-vehicle communications as well as vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. The spectrum is seen as particularly useful for V2x communications because it can support very low-latency, secure transmissions; fast network acquisition and in general, the ability to handle rapid and frequent handovers that are inherent in a vehicle environment; as well as being highly robust in adverse weather conditions. ITS also notes that it is tolerant of multi-path transmission.

The DOT has identified more than 40 use cases for V2I technologies, such as the ability to pay for parking and tolls wirelessly, identify when a car is approach a curve too quickly and alert the driver; adjusting traffic signals to accommodate first responders in an emergency; and alert drivers of conditions such as road construction, among others.

According to the National Connected Vehicle Field Infrastructure Footprint Analysis report (pdf here) conducted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, a connected vehicle infrastructure deployment is expected to leverage technologies that include cellular and Wi-Fi as well as DSRC and would typically include:

• Roadside communications equipment and enclosures, mountings, power, and network backhaul.

• Traffic signal controller interfaces for applications that require signal phase and timing data.

• Systems and processes required to support management of security credentials and ensure a trusted network.

• Mapping services that provide highly detailed roadway geometries, signage, and asset locations for the various connected vehicle applications.

• Positioning services for resolving vehicle locations to high accuracy and precision.

• Data servers for collecting and processing data provided by vehicles and for distributing information, advisories, and alerts to users.

What is the status of DSRC?

According to a report published last week on the connected car by the Government Accountability Office, the US DOT (Department of Transportation)  “plans to provide up to $100 million through its Connected Vehicle pilot program for projects that will deploy V2I technologies in real-world settings” over the next five years.

However, the GAO report also pointed out that “the full extent of V2I technologies’ benefits and costs is unclear because test deployments have been limited thus far; however, DOT has supported initial research into the potential benefits and costs.”

What are some of the challenges for DSRC and the connected car?

The GAO identified the following challenges, specifically for V2I communications:

(1) making sure that possible spectrum-sharing in the DSRC band will not adversely affect V2I performance

(2) addressing the lack of resources at the state and local level to deploy and maintain V2I technologies

(3) developing technical standards for interoperability

(4) developing and managing data security and addressing public perceptions related to privacy

(5) ensuring that drivers respond appropriately to V2I warnings

(6) addressing the uncertainties related to potential liability issues posed by V2I.

“DOT is collaborating with the automotive industry and state transportation officials, among others, to identify potential solutions to these challenges,” the GAO noted.

 What are some current issues in regard to DSRC?

Although DSRC spectrum was set aside to be used for vehicle- and transportation-related systems, the federal government is trying to open up more spectrum to the wireless ecosystem in general — and DSRC isn’t immune to consideration. One particular area of concern is whether the 5.9 GHz spectrum would be opened up for spectrum sharing with Wi-Fi. Qualcomm made a proposal that involved divvying up the spectrum so that certain functions operated in different regions of the band, instead of sharing the entire allocation with some version of Wi-Fi’s listen-before-talk approach.

Automakers responded by protesting Qualcomm’s plan, although so far there has been more support for a spectrum-sharing approach offered by Cisco for V2V communications, which GM reportedly plans to begin implementing into its 2017 Cadillac CTS sedans.

The DOT released a device test plan in August (pdf here) designed to “characterize the existing radio frequency signal environment and identify the impacts to DSRC operations of unlicensed devices operating in the 5850-5925 MHz band and adjacent bands.”

The DOT also has accelerated its support of fore regulatory requirements for V2V capabilities in all new vehicles. In May, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced that after putting out a proposed rule-making in 2014 and planning to send a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review next year, the DOT is pushing its timeline forward and will send its proposal for OMB review by the end of 2015.

Source:KELLY HILL Twitter LinkedIn Editor, Big Data, Analytics, Test & Measurement khill@rcrwireless.com


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