Cellular IoT chipset maker Sony Semiconductor Israel has launched a new dual-mode LTE-M/NB-IoT system-on-chip (SoC), the ALT1350, with a low-power application MCU, a sensor-hub for data processing, enhanced security, iSIM location technology, a customisable sub-GHz LPWA/FAN transceiver, and satellite IoT (NTN) options. It is...
MWC is a brilliant show, of course. Not because of the big talk and shiny displays, although they are fun, too. But because you can get lost on the main streets and back alleys of this pop-up tech metropolis for a week at the...
Netmore Group has acquired US LoRaWAN operator Senet for an undisclosed fee. The deal means the Swedish firm expands its public LoRaWAN footprint outside of Europe, where it has assembled networks in 11 different countries, to North America, where Senet is the largest network...
Heliot Europe, Europe’s biggest Sigfox operator, has partnered with smart meter vendor B4T to offer Sigfox connectivity for the UK-based firm’s upcycled smart water meters. B4T’s Jellyfish range of meter devices track consumption and leaks in the water network; they can be retrofitted to...
In case you missed it, SIM specialist Kigen hosted a webinar earlier this month about smart metering – but more about the impact of embedded SIM (eSIM) technology, actually, for the whole IoT market – which presented a thorough view of the varying rates...
Mass adoption of reduced-capability 5G (5G RedCap) for mid-tier cellular IoT applications will start from next year (2024), commencing in China, reckons analyst house Omdia. The arrival of RedCap, it said, will help to drive overall cellular IoT connections to 5.4 billion in 2030,...
An interesting angle came up last week in a webinar about smart metering, hosted by eSIM specialist Kigen, where Danish meter maker Kamstrup responded to a question about how utility companies go about choosing connectivity technologies and connectivity providers by declaring cellular as the...
Some new-year reading, before the 2024 news agenda goes into over-drive; here, the enterprise team at RCR Wireless picks some choice long-form reports from 2023 about all-things IoT (low- and high-power, and in between) to set the conversation for 2024-in-tech. Enjoy.
1 | Smart...
Semtech has enabled Sigfox ‘0G’ technology on its SX126x family of LoRa chipsets, for use with LoRaWAN or other LoRa-based networks. The SX126x series is the California firm’s ‘legacy hardware series; the move follows its move to make one-time rival Sigfox work at chip...
Based on his insights gained over the past decade, Kristoff Van Rattinghe, chief executive at Belgium-founded IoT tracking firm Sensolus, discusses how IoT technology is developing and the trends companies can expect in 2024.
Containers, pallets, special loading racks, trailers, boxes and mobile machinery –...
French low-power IoT specialist Actility, operating and selling LoRaWAN infrastructure, has raised €16 million ($17.2m) in a new funding round to drive its own growth in the private networks space and consolidation in the wider low-power IoT market. The implication is that Actility remains...
The total number of cellular IoT connections will reach around three billion at the end of 2023, reckons Ericsson, with most, and the increasing majority, connected on so-called ‘broadband’ cellular IoT technologies LTE (4G) and 5G. The arrival of reduced-capability (RedCap) 5G through 2024/5...
Note, this article is continued from a previous instalement, available here.
There was lots of other good stuff during the Devil’s Advocate session earlier this month at Industrial 5G Forum. Notably, a couple of questions came up on regional spectrum policy, and the importance of...
Swedish IoT operator Netmore Group has acquired the public LoRaWAN network assets of operator Bouygues Telecom in France. The deal has been facilitated by Polar Structure, parent company of Netmore, and covers the Objenious-branded LoRaWAN infrastructure that Bouygues had earmarked 18 months ago for...
On the face of it, the acquisition of local internet service provider EDPnet by Belgium-based Citymesh, which describes itself lately as a telco “challenger” brand in its home market, holds limited interest – to RCR’s enterprise readership, at least. But in ways, the deal...
Note: this article is continued from a previous entry, available here, which went under the headline: ‘If you want 100% cellular, then you get what you get’ – why hybrid IoT is the only IoT.
Where were we? Oh yes; this idea that governments, regulators,...
There are some clever companies in the IoT space. Of course there are; but there are, arguably, more in IoT than anywhere else in the tech game. They just don’t generally make the same kind of noise. Sure, some talk way too much, but...
Unabiz is to distribute a new Sigfox tracking solution for the postal industry in Europe. The solution has been developed by KYOCERA Communication Systems Company (KCCS), the Sigfox operator in Japan, which has traditionally specialised in IoT trackers for returnable transport packaging assets. The...
US satellite communications provider Ligado Networks is to offer a private LTE solution from Taiwanese advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and private network provider Ubiik to run in Band 54 spectrum at 1670-1675 MHz. It is targeting the utilities sector, and other mission-critical customers. Band...
Note: this the second part of an introduction to a forthcoming editorial report on smart meters, covering how ‘IoT has changed up a gear in the utilities market’. The report will be available next month. RCR Wireless will host a webinar on the same...
Note: this an introduction to and reduction of a forthcoming editorial report on smart meters, covering ‘how IoT has changed up a gear in the utilities market’. The report will be available next month. RCR Wireless will host a webinar on the same subject...
Singapore-based Unabiz, owner of the Sigfox technology, has announced a deal with Shenzhen Kaifa Technology (KAIFA) to jointly sell Sigfox-based smart meters in global markets, and also to develop hybrid Sigfox and LoRa meters for certain markets. The deal is with the advanced metering...
Meanwhile in other Sigfox news, Sigfox-parent Unabiz has sold a large-scale LoRaWAN network to a major shopping mall in the northeast of Singapore. NEX, a seven-storey shopping mall at the Serangoon bus station, located where the city-state’s Northeast and Circle metro lines cross, has...
Another shot-of-life for ultra-narrowband IoT technology Sigfox, on life support 18 months ago, until Singapore-based firm Unabiz plowed-in money, reinvented its business model, embarked on a charm offensive, and breathed new life and hope into its ailing ecosystem. The news this week from the...