NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global

Ecosystem and Market

Status

Report based on intelligence gathered as part of GSA’s

ongoing industry research programme

April 2019

©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association 1

 Introduction
Since the March 2018 report Evolution to Narrow Band Internet of Things (IoT),
the continued mobile industry commitment to the range of 3GPP-standards-
based Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies has been characterised by
the dramatic growth in the number of networks supporting NB-IoT and LTE-MTC
(LTE-M) networks, and the substantial growth in the number of IoT modules
for Cat-NB1 and Cat-M1 products, as well as more recently, the release of
chipsets and modules compliant with Rel-14 Cat-NB2. There are:

•• 124 deployed/ launched NB-IoT or LTE-M networks, run by 104

operators
•• 141 operators actively investing in NB-IoT technology, up from 116 a
year ago, of which:
•• 90 have deployed/commercially launched NB-IoT networks, up
90 operators from 59 in twelve months
have deployed
or commercially •• 30 are planning and/or deploying NB-IoT networks
launched NB-IoT •• 21 are trialling NB-IoT technology.
networks
•• 60 operators actively investing in LTE-M technology, up from 47, of
which:
34 operators
have deployed •• 34 have deployed/commercially launched LTE-M networks, up
or commercially from 19
launched Cat-M1
networks •• 14 are planning and/or deploying LTE-M networks
•• 12 are trialling LTE-M technology.
Note that a technology is regarded as deployed when it has been installed
156 modules
support either in the operator’s commercial network, and it is intended to remain in use (a
Cat-NB1/NB2 or trial or pilot installation might be discontinued). A network is considered to
Cat-M1, or both be commercially launched once it is available at least on a limited basis for
the use of commercial customers.

In terms of IoT equipment, GSA has identified:

•• 210 devices supporting either Cat-NB1 or NB-IoT; more than double the
number in the GAMBoD database at the end of March 2018. Of these:
•• 142 devices support Cat-NB1 (including known variants); 76 of
them support Cat-NB1 only

GSA Report | April 2019 | NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global Ecosystem and Market Status

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 •• 134 devices support Cat-M1 (including known variants); 68 of
them support Cat-M1 only.
•• 74.3% are modules, 18.1% are asset trackers, and 5.2% are
routers, with USB modems, vehicle on-board units (OBUs) and
smart watches making up the balance.
•• 29 commercially available chipsets supporting either NB-IoT or Cat-M1.

New 3GPP IoT The 3GPP IoT technologies NB-IoT and LTE-M are set to become the global
use cases are dominant LPWA technologies that will enable huge IoT market growth.
emerging in
areas such Major industry initiatives worldwide, in areas like connected and autonomous
as airport vehicles, connected or smart homes, agriculture, robotics, smart industry,
infrastructure smart cities and smart energy, are exploring the potential of IoT. Companies
monitoring and
healthcare are actively working on IoT use cases involving both NB-IoT and LTE-M. We
expect the IoT market to grow rapidly over the next five years and for 3GPP
technologies to account for much of that growth as they continue to develop.

As GSA consistently reports, it is the acceleration of the 3GPP technology

ecosystem that determines the speed of adoption of mobile technologies.
We see momentum building rapidly behind 3GPP-based IoT. 3GPP Release 13,
which was finalised in June 2016, resulted in significant numbers of commercial
service launches and trials and increasing device activity. 3GPP Release 14 was
finalised in June 2017, and Release 15 was functionally frozen in March 2019;
both enable improvements in networks and devices (see below).

IoT infrastructure, chipsets, modules and devices are now available from a
range of companies, large and small; well-established and start-up.

The increasing size of the 3GPP ecosystem will further drive commercialisation
of IoT, with mobile operators, infrastructure suppliers, chipset and module
manufacturers, device companies and development and testing houses
supporting new services.

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 Technology status
This report covers the 3GPP-standards-based Low Power Wide Area (LPWA)
technologies for LTE. These include:

•• Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) networks

•• LTE-MTC or LTE-eMTC networks, hereafter referred to as LTE-M
networks.
The ultimate objective of the 3GPP’s IoT work has been to deliver specifications
that enable low-cost device implementations with ultra-long battery life, using
techniques for reduced complexity and power consumption, and better support
for use cases where standard 3G/LTE coverage is poor – such as for meters
and sensors in buildings, basements or in remote locations.

NB-IoT and LTE-M are defined in 3GPP Release 13, completed in June 2016.
NB-IoT can be deployed within an LTE carrier, or in the guard band of an LTE
carrier, or as a stand-alone carrier in other (non-LTE) spectrum, with a system
bandwidth that can be as narrow as 180 kHz. LTE-M is deployed within an LTE
carrier. Two User Equipment (UE) categories were defined: Cat-NB1 (for NB-
IoT networks), and Cat-M1 (for LTE-M networks). The coverage enhancement
modes introduced as part of LTE-M can also be optionally supported by
ordinary LTE UE categories.

3GPP Release 14 was frozen in June 2017, with a variety of enhancements

to the IoT specifications. These included for LTE-M: higher data rate support,
multicast support, improved positioning support (based on the E-CID and
OTDOA capabilities introduced already in Release 13), VoLTE performance
enhancements, and mobility enhancements; and for NB-IoT: new positioning
capabilities based on OTDOA and E-CID, multicast support, improved non-
anchor carrier operation, mobility enhancements, reduced power consumption
and latency.

New categories of devices were also set out in the specification: Cat-NB2 and
Cat-M2 devices supporting greater bandwidth and higher peak upstream and
downstream speeds than their Cat-NB1 and Cat-M1 counterparts. Furthermore,
ordinary LTE-M devices that make use of the LTE-M coverage enhancement
modes can use even larger bandwidths and peak rates than Cat-M2.

Release 15 adds new capabilities for NB-IoT including support for TDD and
small cells, extensions to NB-IoT stand-alone mode, several enhancements

GSA Report | April 2019 | NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global Ecosystem and Market Status

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 designed to reduce power consumption, and improved access control. LTE-M
enhancements were introduced by Release 15 that were designed to enable
new use cases, including support for higher UE velocity, and a lower UE power
class. Other LTE-M enhancements covered lower latency, reduced UE power
consumption, increased spectral efficiency, and improved access control. In
general, new LTE-M improvements are applicable across all duplex modes
(FDD, TDD and HD-FDD), and can be supported by both Cat-M1 and Cat-M2
devices as well as ordinary LTE devices that implement support for LTE-M
coverage enhancement modes.

Release 16 is targeted for completion in March 2020, and includes:

•• for LTE-M networks: work items looking at improved downlink (DL)

and uplink (UL) transmission efficiency and/or UE power consumption,
scheduling enhancements, extreme coverage for ordinary LTE UE,
stand-alone deployment, further mobility enhancements, improved co-
existence with New Radio (NR), and support for connection to the 5G
core network.
•• For NB-IoT networks: work items looking at improved DL and UL
104 operators transmission efficiency and/or UE power consumption, scheduling
in 53 countries
have deployed/ enhancements, network management tool enhancement, improved
launched at multi-carrier operation, further mobility enhancements, improved co-
least one of the
existence with NR, and support for connection to the 5G core network.
NB-IoT or LTE-M
technologies
Live and planned IoT networks
The number of deployed/launched networks grew substantially in the 12
months to April 2019. 104 operators in 53 countries have deployed/launched
at least one of the NB-IoT or LTE-M technologies. Of those, 20 operators have
deployed/launched both NB-IoT and LTE-M.

•• 22 countries have deployed/launched NB-IoT and LTE-M networks

•• 29 countries have deployed/launched NB-IoT networks only
•• Two countries have deployed/launched LTE-M networks only.

GSA Report | April 2019 | NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global Ecosystem and Market Status

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 Figure 1: Map of countries with deployed/launched NB-IoT and LTE-M networks

NB-IoT launches, plans and trials

In total, 141 operators in 69 countries are known to be actively investing in NB-

IoT networks. Of these, 90 operators in 51 countries have deployed or launched
NB-IoT networks, up from 59 operators in March 2018. Thirty more operators
are planning or deploying NB-IoT networks, and a further 21 operators are
trialling NB-IoT technology.
Figure 2: NB-IoT investment status by country

GSA Report | April 2019 | NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global Ecosystem and Market Status

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 LTE-M launches, plans and trials

GSA has identified 60 operators in 35 countries that are actively investing

in LTE-M networks. Of these, 34 operators in 24 countries have deployed/
commercially launched; 14 more operators are planning or deploying networks
and 12 are known to have been engaging in tests or trials.
Figure 3: LTE-M investment status by country

GSA has
identified 30
modem chipsets/
SoCs/platforms
supporting Cat-1, Chipsets
Cat-M1, Cat-NB1
or NB2, or both The number of system-on-chip (SoC) and chipsets released for Cat-NB1/NB2
and Cat-M1 has grown quickly. GSA has identified 30 modem chipsets/SoCs/
platforms supporting Cat-1, Cat-M1, Cat-NB1 or NB2, or both. Of these, 24
of these support Cat-M1, Cat-NB1 or NB2. Of these, 12 support Cat-NB1/NB2
and Cat-M1.

GSA Report | April 2019 | NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global Ecosystem and Market Status

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 Figure 4: Numbers of chipsets supporting 3GPP IoT standards, with percentage of total (30)

Lists of chipsets supporting Cat-1, Cat-NB1, Cat-NB2 and Cat-M1 are available
in GSA’s report: ‘LTE, 5G and 3GPP IoT Chipsets: Status Update’, published on
the GSA website in April 2019. Note that this excludes the u-Blox UBX-R3 Cat-1
chipset, identified following publication.
210 devices
support either Devices and modules
Cat-NB1/NB-2 or
Cat-M1 – more The 3GPP-compliant LPWA device ecosystem has grown too. GSA has identified
than double 210 devices supporting either Cat-NB1/NB-2 or Cat-M1 – more than double
the number in the number in the GAMBoD database at the end of March 2018. The full list
the GAMBoD
database at the of modules and devices, including details such as the spectrum bands they
end of March support, is available to subscribers to GSA’s GAMBoD database.
2018
In total, 142 devices have been released supporting Cat-NB1 (including known
variants); 76 of them support Cat-NB1 only. In total, 134 devices have been
released supporting Cat-M1 (including known variants); 68 of them support
Cat-M1 only.

GSA Report | April 2019 | NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global Ecosystem and Market Status

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 Figure 5: Cat-NB1 and Cat-M1 devices by form factor (total: 210)

In the past
year the GSA
has identified
nearly 70 new
modules or
module variants
supporting either
Cat-M1 only,
NB1/NB2 only, or
both
In the past year the GSA has identified nearly 70 new modules or module
variants supporting either Cat-M1 only, NB1/NB2 only, or both. The rise is
in step with the number of operators and countries that are deploying both
cellular IoT networks and suggests growing momentum in the ecosystem.

Drawing on data from the GAMBoD database and the GSA’s chipset database,
GSA has logged:

•• 156 modules supporting both Cat-NB1, NB2, or Cat-M1 (including

known variants)
•• 100 modules supporting Cat-M1 (including known variants); 53 support
Cat-M1 only
•• 103 modules supporting Cat-NB1 or NB2 (including known variants); 56
support Cat-NB1 or NB2 only.

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 About GSA
GSA (the Global mobile Suppliers Association) is a not-for-profit industry
organisation representing companies across the worldwide mobile ecosystem
engaged in the supply of infrastructure, semiconductors, test equipment,
devices, applications and mobile support services.

GSA actively promotes the 3GPP technology road-map – 3G, 4G, 5G – and
is a single source of information resource for industry reports and market
intelligence. GSA Members drive the GSA agenda and define the communications
and development strategy for the Association.

Membership of GSA is open to any supplier of products; systems or services

related to the mobile industry and brings many benefits including access to
the GAMBoD and NTS database. The range of benefits includes enhanced
discussion, networking and influencing opportunities on the key industry
topics, and unique promotional/visibility opportunities for your company
name, capabilities, positioning and messages. More details can be found at
https://gsacom.com/gsa-membership/

News/updates: RSS Feed: https://gsacom.com/rss-feeds/

GSA LinkedIn group: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2313721

Twitter: www.twitter.com/gsacom

Contact
GSA Secretariat

Email: research@gsacom.com

Tel: +44 330 113 1572

GSA website: https://gsacom.com

NOTE: Errors and omission excepted

GSA Report | April 2019 | NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global Ecosystem and Market Status

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©Copyright 2019 Global mobile Suppliers Association