Verizon became the third US operator to launch an NB-IoT network, albeit some five months later than expected.
Though the operator unveiled plans in February 2018 to launch a nationwide NB-IoT network by the year-end, an announcement never materialised. T-Mobile US beat it to the punch [1] in July 2018, while AT&T followed with its own launch [2] last month.
Verizon said the network it launched this week covers 92 per cent of the US population.
All three operators opted to use guard band spectrum, meaning the NB-IoT networks don’t share spectrum with smartphone traffic.
Guard bands are fallow gaps of spectrum left between radio frequencies to prevent interference.
In a statement, Verizon VP of technology development and planning Bill Stone said the decision to use guard band airwaves was a “strategic” move to make the most efficient use of its spectrum assets.
Verizon has had LTE-M service up and running since March 2017 and added voice service [3] to that network in August 2018. But it said its new NB-IoT infrastructure is designed for a different class of IoT devices, for example stationary sensors, which have lower bandwidth needs.
Developers will have access to equipment from Telit, SIM-COM and Quectel Wireless Solutions, which are currently in the final stages of testing modules for the network.
An initial NB-IoT tariff will offer 50KB of data for $1 per month/device. The data allowance will be sharable with other devices on an account which use the same price plan.
[1] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/home-banner/t-mobile-us-ups-ante-with-nb-iot-launch/[2] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/att-enters-nb-iot-fray/
[3] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/verizon-adds-voice-to-lte-m-network/
