BROWSING: LTE-M

Note, this article is continued from a previous entry, available here.  So what happens behind the ‘green curtain’, exactly? What is the trick that non-cellular IoT leader Semtech is looking to pull off with its purchase of cellular IoT maker Sierra Wireless? Or rather, how...

Nordic Semiconductor has expanded its low-power IoT hardware portfolio to include Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. The Norwegian outfit has debuted its first Wi-Fi chip, the nRF7002, which it describes as a “companion IC (integrated circuit)’ to go alongside its existing products, in order to add...

The IoT hardware market has, suddenly, shrunk – in order to expand, and to rebalance the western power-play. So say market watchers, reacting to the twin acquisitions this week by US-based chipmaker and Semtech, which has confirmed a deal to splurge $1.2 billion on...

There were two high profile pieces of M&A news in the IoT hardware space in the last week. First up, on Friday 29th July, Telit and Thales announced that they were combining the assets of Telit with those of Thales’ IoT hardware business into...

Well, it didn’t take long; “advanced talks” between Semtech and Sierra Wireless, as reported yesterday, have quickly concluded, with US firm Semtech confirming a deal to acquire its Canadian counterpart for $1.2 billion. The deal, subject to final approval, will bring together Semtech’s LoRa/LoRaWAN...

The latest release of the 5G New Radio (NR) standard has, at last, fixed a problem for cellular-based sensor comms with the emergence of a cut-down version of 5G for massive-scale IoT deployments. On paper, anyway; in reality, the news only confirms a waypoint...

Italian-American IoT module maker Telit is to acquire the cellular IoT unit of French aerospace, defence, and security company Thales in return for a quarter-share of its expanded industrial IoT business. Thales will take a 25 percent stake in the expanded Telit business, headquartered...

Philippe Chiu has been sleeping for three hours a night, he says, for six months. He has taken to power-napping, like he is “at college again”, he says. “Twenty minutes gets you three hours. And it works – because it is good sleep. So,...

KDDI-owned IoT connectivity provider Soracom has announced a deal with France-based outfit IDEMIA, a supplier of identity-related security services, to offer enterprise customers an optimised low-power embedded SIM (eSIM) with its power-constrained cellular IoT products in North America and Europe. IDEMIA’s eSIM proposition, called DAKOTA...

Nordic Semiconductor has announced it is to acquire US firm Mobile Semiconductor, a specialist in embedded memory technology for microcontrollers (MCUs) and systems-on-chip (SoCs). Mobile Semiconductor already supplies static RAM (SRAM) memory-hardware in all of Nordic’s wireless IoT devices including its nRF52 and nRF53...

Quectel, Fibocom, Sunsea AIoT, Thales and Telit, hold 68% of the cellular IoT modules market in terms of revenues last year   European IoT analyst firm Berg Insight reported that annual shipments of cellular IoT modules reached 428 million units in 2021, an increase of 39%...

Global cellular IoT provider 1NCE has confirmed a long-trailed deal with Softbank, a major investor already in the firm, to release equity to the Japan-based carrier in return for exclusive distribution rights in Asia Pacific. Softbank will sell 1NCE in 19 markets in the...

Ligado Networks is using Sony Semiconductor Israel (née Altair) to make 5G IoT chips for its forthcoming mobile satellite network.

It has been a month since Unabiz was declared the new owner of IoT tech provider and network operator Sigfox. And it has been a couple of weeks (such is the workload) since Enterprise IoT Insights was passed a shareholders’ note from the Sigfox...

The initial hype around smart cities has now passed, with applications moving beyond early pilots and proof-of-concepts into commercially deployed systems. There is one major factor present in all of those that have successfully made this transition – they are based on standards-based technologies...

KDDI-owned IoT connectivity provider Soracom, an investor in and collaborator with new Sigfox-owner UnaBiz, has expanded its partner network into the Americas and Europe, it has said, including via its UnaBiz partnership. The firm said its partner ranks have swollen to 800 companies with...

Sequans noted that utility companies are well aware of the benefits of adopting 5G private networks for their operations   The implementation of IoT technology by firms operating in the utilities sector could help these companies to achieve both direct and indirect cost saving benefits, Jeremy...

Global revenues from IoT device management services will top $36.8 billion by 2026, according to ABI Research. The forecast represents a compound annual jump (CAGR) of 17.1 percent, from around $16.7 billion at the end of 2021. It said spiralling interest in IoT device...

The Telit executive said that artificial intelligence can transform utilities customer engagement as well as their operations   Companies operating in the utility sector are starting to see the benefits of certain initial use cases enabled by 5G technology, Jitender Vohra, director of carrier relations at...

Yes, we have done the Leone analogy before, kind-of (see: 1NCE upon a time in America), but the original Spaghetti Western title works even better to tell the story, briefly, of how cellular IoT rode into town on a horse called 1NCE, and brought...

Mobile operator Orange has reaffirmed its support for LoRaWAN in France “until at least 2027”, committing to maintain the non-cellular technology as a terrestrial IoT network with nationwide coverage in the country of its birth – even as cellular 5G expands as an IoT...

eMTC and NB-IoT were both introduced simultaneously in Release 13   eMTC (enhanced machine-type communication) is a type of LTE-M network published by 3GPP in the Release 13 specification. eMTC is a low power wide area technology which supports IoT through lower device complexity and provides...

Global revenues from cellular IoT modules increased by 58 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared with the year-ago period, with more than 40 percent of the total revenue in the period in China. 5G-based IoT modules contributed to nearly a quarter of...

The 3GPP has announced a study item on NB-IoT over non-terrestrial networks Internet of Tings (IoT) and Machine Type Communications (MTC) applications are experiencing an exponential surge and are expected to play a key role in future networks and systems. However, the industry is well...