Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone Group have successfully completed the first international roaming trial in Europe using licensed NB-IoT technology, according to the GSMA.
The trial was performed using global SIMs from Deutsche Telekom on Vodafone Spain’s network and global Vodafone SIMs on T-Mobile Austria’s network and commercial NB-IoT modules. The trials will also provide guidance to other operators in delivering a consistent level of implementation.
Roaming is particularly important to manufacturers deploying LPWA devices on a global basis and looking to benefit from economies of scale. It is also critical for use cases such as logistics tracking, which may involve containers crossing numerous international borders on a single trip, as well as for devices that may be manufactured in one country but deployed in another, such as smart meters. The roaming test cases were jointly developed by Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone and include important power saving features such as Power Saving Mode (PSM), Long Periodic Tracking Area Update (TAU) and various throughput and round-trip-time measurements. Underscored by the success of these trials, the industry is working to accelerate the adoption of NB-IoT roaming around the world.
GSMA said its Mobile IoT Initiative has helped standardise licensed LPWA technologies including NB-IoT and LTE-M in 3GPP and to date, 29 mobile operators have launched 51 commercial Mobile IoT networks around the world. The GSMA is working to accelerate the adoption of Mobile IoT through 36 Open IoT Labs, enabling operators, module vendors and application providers to develop LPWA devices and applications for a wide variety of verticals. The GSMA’s Mobile IoT Innovators Community is supported by an expanding community of over 900 organisations.
According to GSMA Intelligence forecasts, by 2025 there will be 3.1 billion cellular IoT connections, including 1.8 billion licensed LPWA connections.
Alex Sinclair, CTO, GSMA
The success of these trials is an important milestone in the development of a sustainable roaming environment for Mobile IoT networks, showcasing their capabilities as well as ensuring consistent service across geographical boundaries.
Ingo Hofacker, IoT Business, Deutsche Telekom Group
Deutsche Telekom has successfully introduced and developed NB-IoT networks across most of its European footprint and we are very pleased to see the ecosystem rapidly expanding.
