AT&T said it is seeing “real momentum for LTE-M” and will roll out the low power wide-area network technology nationwide during the second quarter of this year. The announcement follows a successful trial of an IoT network in Norther California that uses LTE-M. AT&T partnered with Ericsson and Sony’s Altair Semiconductor in that pilot project.
LTE-M is a part of the existing LTE standard that supports the internet of things. LTE-M chipsets use significantly less power than smartphone processors and modems, and they transmit and receive over a wider area than smartphones do. Modules that use LTE-M are expected to cost less than $50 each. AT&T said that its LTE-M modules are not only less expensive than current IoT modules, but also orders of magnitude smaller in size.
AT&T said it is currently working with partners to test and evaluate LTE-M chipsets in a variety of situations. The carrier listed several trials that cover a variety of use cases:
- Smart water meters with Capstone Metering
- Smart pallets with RM2
- Smart beverage fountains with PepsiCo
- Consumer devices with Samsung
- Shipping container monitoring with Xirgo Technologies
- Connected vehicles and fleet & asset management with CalAmp
- Home security and automation with Telular.
AT&T also said it is bringing LTE-M to Mexico. The carrier purchased Nextel Mexico and Iusacell in 2015, and has been working hard to upgrade infrastructure and grow its subscriber base in Mexico.
“We fully expect to have nationwide availability of LTE-M technology in Mexico by the end of 2017,” said Kelly King, CEO, AT&T Mexico, in a statement. “This is huge for our enterprise customers. It’s an important step to help accelerate the speed of business.”
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