According to a mobile report released by Ericsson in June 2016, by 2021, out of 28 billion global connections, 15.7 billion will be IoT connections, accounting for as much as 53.6%. Among these 15.7 billion IoT connections, 1.5 billion will use cellular networks, making up 9.6% of the total IoT connections. Cellular IoT utilizes licensed frequency resources, which have advantages such as low interference, high reliability, full coverage, and wide range, making it the primary choice for customers.
In the IoT technologies based on licensed frequency bands for cellular networks, NB-IoT is widely regarded in the industry due to its technical advantages. Market research firm Machina predicts that NB-IoT will cover 25% of IoT connections in the future. Compared to traditional IoT technologies like Bluetooth and WiFi, NB-IoT offers advantages such as large capacity, wide coverage, low power consumption, low cost, and high stability, making it the most suitable communication technology for long-distance, low-rate, low-power, and multi-terminal IoT applications.
At the beginning of 2017, the three major operators fully launched their strategies in the NB-IoT field, promoting NB-IoT into the fast lane from policies, operations to the upstream and downstream of the industry chain. Recently, China Mobile took the lead in building the first NB-IoT network with full coverage in a prefecture-level city in Yingtan, Jiangxi. While this has attracted much attention, China Mobile’s ‘head start’ has also faced controversy.
Operators Accelerate NB-IoT Construction
According to the plans of the three major operators, this year, each of their NB-IoT networks will be commercially deployed on a large scale, just a matter of timing. As 2017 begins, the three major operators are making continuous progress in the NB-IoT field, and the first half of this year will usher in a critical period for the operators’ positioning and application implementation.
China Unicom has also listed IoT as one of its three major innovation strategies. In November last year, Guangdong launched the first standardized NB-IoT commercial network, and large-scale NB-IoT field trials were conducted at Shanghai Disneyland to provide real-time parking information and other services for visitors.
In 2017, China Unicom plans to launch NB-IoT field-scale networking tests and business demonstrations in more than five cities based on 900MHz and 1800MHz, as well as demonstrations of more than six business applications. In terms of commercial deployment, by the end of 2016 and early 2017, it will promote the NB-IoT commercial deployment in key cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Yinchuan, Changsha, Fuzhou).
It should be noted that due to the limited 900M frequency spectrum resources, over 80% of China Unicom’s NB-IoT base stations will adopt an upgraded deployment plan based on L1800. However, the NB-IoT industry chain based on L1800 is not very mature, and it is expected that large-scale commercial deployment capabilities will not be available until the second half of 2017. China Unicom is also actively guiding the industry chain to increase investment.
China Telecom has also positioned IoT as one of the five major business ecosystems in its “13th Five-Year Plan,” proposing a target of net adding 25 million IoT users in 2017 and exceeding 100 million in 2018.
At the beginning of the year, China Telecom officially released the “China Telecom NB-IoT Enterprise Standard (V1.0)” and launched large-scale field trials in 12 cities across seven provinces, including Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, Sichuan, and Henan, with plans to complete NB-IoT trial commercial use by June. According to the plan, in the first half of 2017, China Telecom will deploy an NB-IoT network based on 800M to achieve full network coverage. Industry insiders believe that in terms of the progress from NB-IoT standards to commercial deployment, China Telecom is ahead of major domestic and foreign operators.
As a giant in the mobile communications field, China Mobile, which fully implements the “Big Connection” strategy, has higher strategic demands for IoT. Currently, China Mobile has built the world’s largest IoT platform, with over 27 million users and nearly 100 million IoT access points. In terms of technology, China Mobile is also diversifying, with TD-LTE/eMTC/NB-IoT/GPRS all in play.
For NB-IoT, China Mobile is currently conducting laboratory tests and field tests. According to China Mobile’s plan, in 2017, it will conduct field tests in more major domestic cities, including not only single-site, multi-site, and networking tests at the communication layer but also the establishment of business nodes and broader industry cooperation.
China Mobile’s Head Start Again
All three major operators have long been planning; why is it that China Mobile’s NB-IoT network is the first to be deployed on a large scale?
China Mobile’s deployment of the NB-IoT network can be said to have inherent advantages, holding the FDD 900MHz band and a large cash flow, coupled with active cooperation with the upstream and downstream of the industry chain, making the deployment of the NB-IoT network quite smooth.
In terms of spectrum, China Mobile has 19M (890-909MHz/935-954MHz) resources in the 900M band, which gives it considerable operational space. Even considering future LTE900 spectrum reallocation, it can achieve harmonious coexistence of LTE FDD, GSM, and NB-IoT.
In terms of funding, although NB-IoT is deployed based on the existing LTE network and can share most of the infrastructure, the investment amount is still significant. Taking China Mobile’s experiment in Yingtan as an example, the project involves 135 IoT base stations and a complete set of core networks and related network management, with a total investment of approximately 44.65 million yuan; achieving full coverage in Yingtan will not be a small figure.
However, at the same time, China Mobile is also facing considerable challenges. It is well known that NB-IoT currently only supports half-duplex FDD mode, and China Mobile has not obtained an FDD LTE license, nor has the regulatory authorities allowed China Mobile to reallocate the spectrum of the 2G network, while its NB-IoT network is deployed on the FDD frequency of 900MHz, which raises suspicions of “head start,” and the regulatory authorities have not commented on this move.
While China Mobile’s NB-IoT development is in full swing, the regulatory authorities are in a dilemma. One reason for not granting China Mobile an FDD license is that during the development of 4G, China Mobile still has a significant lead over the other two operators. If China Mobile is allowed to reallocate the spectrum in the low-frequency band, it will put greater competitive pressure on the other two operators. The biggest competitive advantage for Telecom and Unicom in 2017 is the LTE network coverage capability brought by low frequency.
Perhaps because Yingtan is a national pilot city for information benefits, smart cities, and universal telecom services, and IoT has a good application foundation and strong demand in areas such as information benefits, urban management, and industrial transformation, the regulatory authorities have tacitly approved this. However, if NB-IoT network deployment and commercial use are to be carried out on a larger scale, it will test the political wisdom of all parties.
