A discussion of T-Mobile’s CONNECT IoT Program, featuring Ovum’s Mike Sapien, T-Mobile’s Shelby Noakes and Lawrence Garcia.
T-Mobile US launches nationwide NB-IoT
T-Mobile launched its Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) service across the United States — the first carrier to do so.
NB-IoT operates on spectrum guard bands, which T-Mobile describes as the network equivalent of driving down the shoulders on the highway. It is a low power, wide area network (LPWAN) LTE-Advanced technology boasting low power usage, long battery life and low device cost. T-Mobile was also first to trial NB-IoT in the U.S. last year.
Significantly, T-Mobile’s NB-IoT plan costs just $6 a year – one tenth of Verizon’s Cat-M plans – for up to 12 MB per connected device. Several NB-IoT modules based on Qualcomm MDM9206 LTE IoT modem are certified for use on T-Mobile’s network.
T-Mobile worked with Ericsson, Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies to deploy nationwide NB-IoT.
T-mobile also announced its new partner program, T-Mobile CONNECT, to help IoT solution providers collaborate and bring their products and services to market on T-Mobile’s network — and into the hands of customers — more quickly.
“We’re always innovating to bring customers the latest technology, and NB-IoT is the globally-preferred standard to power the rapidly expanding world of IoT applications,” said Neville Ray, Chief Technology Officer at T-Mobile. “So of course, T-Mobile is the first to bring NB-IoT to the U.S., lighting up new capabilities to connect massive numbers of devices at low cost.”
For applications that require more bandwidth and voice, T-Mobile also offers Cat-1 IoT Access Packs. In addition, the new T-Mobile CONNECT program will help IoT solution providers accelerate the development and commercialization of their products and solutions.
T-Mobile US to deploy Nokia 5G in 600MHz and 28GHz mmWave this year
T-Mobile U.S. announced plans to build out 5G in 30 cities this year and Nokia confirmed that its equipment has been selected for the rollout. T-Mobile will deploy its 5G RAN using both 600MHz and 28GHz millimeter wave spectrum.
Nokia will begin building the network during the second quarter of 2018, completing the deployment during 2020. Financial terms were not disclosed.
T-Mobile said New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas will be first to get 5G. Service, of course, will require a 5G smartphone and these are expected to launch early in 2019.
Nokia listed the following elements in T-Mobile’s deployment:
- Nokia AirScale baseband and remote radio heads supporting 5G NR, and ReefShark-enabled portfolio in the 600MHz and 28GHz mmWave spectrums. The Nokia 5G-ready AirScale radio access portfolio, which is software upgradable to full 5G services will provide enhanced RAN support for 4G and 5G T-Mobile subscribers
- Nokia installed Core technologies will be enhanced to support 5G, implementing a cloud-native architecture, powered by the Nokia AirFrame data center solution, Subscriber Data Management, CloudBand and Cloud Packet Core
- Nokia Mobile Anyhaul framework to enable ultra-broadband connectivity
- Nokia Digital Experience and Monetization solutions will support 5G device management and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) solutions
- Nokia CloudBand Management and Orchestration (MANO) software suite will automate cloud application deployment and lifecycle management
- Nokia NetAct virtualized network management software provides capabilities for troubleshooting, assurance, administration, software management and configuration, and managing the smooth evolution to 5G
- Nokia Global Services expertise, including automation to speed the rollout and analytics to help optimize network performance
