We are entering the Internet of Everything (IoT) era, which is a great opportunity for the whole mobile communication industry. This is obvious in MWC20 16. Operators and equipment giants have demonstrated complete IOT solutions and applications in different vertical industries.
Of course, the foundation of all this is to have ubiquitous network connections. Operator's network is the most extensive network in the world, so it has unique advantages in access ability. However, a reality that cannot be ignored is that only 10% of the connections are actually carried on the mobile network, and most of the connections are carried by Bluetooth, WiFi and other technologies.
To this end, the industrial chain began to study the use of narrowband LTE technology to carry Internet of Things connections several years ago. After several renaming and technical evolution, from 2065438 to September 2005, 3GPP officially named this technology NB-IoT. At MWC20 16, NB-IoT made its debut and attracted much attention. Operators and equipment suppliers have recognized its platform.
You Quan, chief strategy officer of Huawei's wireless network product line, said in an interview with Communication Industry News (Network): "NB-IoT is an important opportunity for the cellular network industry to deal with the Internet of Everything. We are very optimistic about the commercial prospects of NB-IoT and recommend it as the first choice for Internet of Things connection technology. "
He explained to reporters the commercial and technical advantages of NB-IoT. From the commercial point of view, so far, the cellular network covers more than 50% of the global geographical area and 90% of the population, which is the most complete network. Technically, NB-IoT has four technical advantages. First of all, it covers a wide range. Compared with the traditional GSM, a base station can provide 10 times the area coverage. Followed by massive connections, the frequency of 200KHz can provide 6.5438+10,000 connections; The third is low power consumption. AA batteries can work for ten years without charging. The fourth is low cost, and the module cost is less than $5.
Previously, Huawei calculated an account for the reporter. Assuming that there are about 5 million physical sites in the world, all of which are deployed with NB-IoT, each site has three sectors, each sector is deployed with 200kHz, and each sensor sends 100 bytes per hour, then the number of sensors that can be connected to the global site is as high as 450 billion.
It is understood that NB-IoT can be widely used in a variety of vertical industries, such as remote meter reading, asset tracking, smart parking, smart agriculture and so on. With the release of the first edition of 3GPP standard in June, there will be many test networks and small-scale commercial networks. NB-IoT will stand out among many low-power WAN technologies.
"NB-IoT presents huge development opportunities in Europe and the world. By 2020, the value of the entire industrial chain of the Internet of Things is expected to reach 3 trillion euros, including the upstream and downstream of the entire industrial chain such as network connection, data processing, platform application and business cooperation. " Yu Quan said that Huawei is ready to complete the commercialization of NB-IoT in 20 16.
Hu, Huawei's rotating CEO, pointed out in his keynote speech at the 20 15 Global Mobile Broadband Forum that mobile operators need to take immediate action to seize the rapidly growing market share of the Internet of Things. At present, operators have unique advantages in accessibility, but many other technologies, such as ZigBee, Bluetooth and built-in WiFi, are also developing rapidly, so operators must compete fiercely with vertical industries. Hu stressed that a unified Internet of Things standard must be formulated as soon as possible to promote cross-industry development. Luke Ibbetson, head of research and development at Vodafone Group, agrees. He pointed out that at present, 80%-90% of IOT devices are connected through low-power indoor systems, and the rest are connected through cellular networks. Many people believe that the emerging LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) technology has low cost and wide coverage, which will bring good opportunities for mobile operators to develop the Internet of Things. However, Ibbetson pointed out: "We haven't developed a suitable solution for our customers, so we are still under great pressure." "The NB-IoT industry ecosystem is growing rapidly, and it requires sincere cooperation and joint efforts between operators and Internet of Things related industry participants." Talking about the challenge of landing NB-IoT, Yu Quan introduced it.
Just the day before MWC20 16, all parties of the GSMA joint venture held the first NB-IoT summit in the world, at which the NB-IoT forum was established. Alliance members include many industrial chain enterprises such as global mainstream operators, network equipment manufacturers and major chip module manufacturers.
You Quan emphasized that the summit was attended by more than 20 vertical enterprises, which was a very gratifying start. "Of course, there may not be dozens of vertical industry suppliers, but thousands, and there is still a lot of work to be done in the industry." Taking the smart meter reading industry as an example, You Quan said that there are many meters at home, such as water meters, electricity meters, gas meters and heating meters, and there are many enterprises behind them.
With so many participants, there will be many synergy problems, and the industry needs an open platform to speed up the pace of the industry. Moreover, the formulation of new standards needs an open platform to promote.
In this regard, many operators have jointly established open laboratories with telecom equipment vendors including Huawei. It is reported that with the help of open laboratories, vertical industry manufacturers can easily verify their IoT applications, networks and business models on the actual network. "The NB-IoT standard is expected to be completed in June this year." Yu Quan said that this shows that NB-IoT has entered a crucial year of development.
It is reported that with the freezing of 3GPP standards in June, NB-IoT will stand out from the numerous technical competitions in the LPWA market and become the best choice for leading operators after the baptism of the market. At the same time, 20 16 will also become the first commercial year of NB-IoT.
Many chip manufacturers and module manufacturers will support the development of NB-IoT this year. On the network side, Huawei plans to launch a system supporting NB-IoT in the second half of this year. Many other network equipment vendors also plan to support NB-IoT this year.
It is urgent for operators to develop NB-IoT. "Even though the industry has tried its best to promote the rapid development of NB-IoT, operators still think that the development progress is not fast enough, which puts great pressure on suppliers." Yu Quan revealed.
The vertical industry has also put forward their technical requirements: the life of the terminal battery should reach 10 years or more, the safety should be fully met, and it should be commercialized this year.
User case is the key to the success of NB-IoT or cellular Internet of Things. Now, with the help of the open lab, the industry has discussed how to enable more user cases. At present, user cases such as smart parking, smart water meter and smart tracking have been verified in the laboratory. "It is expected that there will be a commercial network of NB-IoT in the second half of this year, and it will be deployed on a large scale next year. This is the general expectation of our entire industry. " Yu Quan said.
Regarding the challenge of NB-IoT development, Yu Quan said that everything is difficult at the beginning, but the cellular industry has developed for decades and has a tradition of open cooperation, which has led to today's achievements. "I believe that the NB-IoT industry will repeat such open cooperation, bring new business success to operators and vertical customers, and at the same time play a very good role in promoting the whole society and the whole economy." You Quan introduced. It is reported that at present, only 10% of Internet of Things applications are based on cellular networks, which have coverage advantages and cost advantages. Huawei prepares to complete commercialization in 2065, 438+06. Huawei said that Huawei's most critical step in the Internet of Things market is to "help operators open up the10 billion connection market".
At the same time, under the advocacy of GSMA NB-IoT Forum, Huawei and the operator * * * set up a development laboratory to strengthen cooperation among enterprises. At present, Huawei has established six NB-IoT open laboratories with China Mobile, UAE Telecom, LG Uplus, Shanghai Unicom, Telecom Italia and Vodafone around the world, focusing on joint innovation, industrial development and integration verification of NB-IoT, exploring new business cases and business models, and making achievements in the whole industry.
It is understood that Huawei and mobile operator Vodafone will jointly establish an NB-IoT open laboratory to promote the development and promotion of NB-IoT technology. The NB-IoT open laboratory using pre-standard NB-IoT technology will study network solution verification, new application innovation, equipment integration, business model research and product qualification verification.