NB-IoT is a low power wide area network (LPWAN) technology. NB-IoT has been developed to enable efficient communication, long battery life for mass distributed devices and lower costs for wide geographical footprints or deep within urban infrastructure.
LPWA is specifically designed for connecting devices with low bandwidth requirements, using low power, while providing wider and deeper network coverage. Many millions of devices are predicted to be connected via LPWA networks in the next few years.
The potential for LPWA technology is huge. Most devices can last ten years in the field without a battery charge, connect as far as 10km, cost only$10 each, with cell sites able to support 10,000 devices.
Strong coverage over large areas, even underground or deep within urban infrastructure
Great power efficiency, devices can run on batteries for 10 years or more without a charge
Massive scale, connecting potentially millions of devices in a single deployment
Low cost communications hardware, enabling data collection devices to be built for less than $10
Low bandwidth, many use cases require only a few bytes of data to be transmitted per device per day
Find out more detail about the features of NB-IoT as described in the 3GPP specification Release 13 from June 2016
Uses existing LTE networks
Based on open standards – service is not vendor or operator dependent
Wide industry support from service providers through to chipset makers
Bi-directional communication
Operates in a licensed spectrum and provides assured quality of service with minimal risk of interference
Deepest and furthest reach of any LPWA network
50% of all wireless connections will be LPWA by 2025
Vodafone was 1st to announce launch of live commercial NB-IoT network in Spain (Jan 2017)
Vodafone was 1st to complete NB-IoT pilots
| Spain | Ireland |
| Italy | Netherlands |
| Australia | Turkey |
| Czech Republic | South Africa |
| Germany | New Zealand |
| Malta | Greece |
| UK | Portugal |
| Hungary |
Partner markets:
-TDC
-Maxis
The power of our network, as well as our place as a founding member of the GSMA NB-IoT Forum, puts us firmly at the forefront of delivering this pioneering technology.
Read more about what we are doing to enable the Internet of Things with NB-IoT
NB-IoT is an efficient, cost effective technology for a wide range of IoT applications. Any devices that have low energy consumption, low data transfer demands and are geographically dispersed or remote can benefit from its application. Developments so far include:
Street lighting
Smart waste
Smart transport
Road traffic monitoring
Smart parking
Infrastructure sensors
Pet tracking
Fire safety
Asset tracking
Location security
Smart metering
Warehouse monitoring
Safety and security
Wear monitoring
Animal welfare monitoring
Crop monitoring
Animal tracking
Soil monitoring
Warehouse monitoring
Safety and security
Wear monitoring
Smart laboratories
Asset tracking
Drug delivery
Wearables for elderly
Intelligent stores
Smart connected cabinets
Smart shelves
LPWA is specifically designed for connecting devices with low bandwidth requirements, using low power, while providing wider and deeper network coverage. Many millions of devices are predicted to be connected via LPWA networks in the next few years.
The potential for LPWA technology is huge. Most devices can last ten years in the field without a battery charge, connect as far as 10km, cost only$10 each, with cell sites able to support 10,000 devices.
Strong coverage over large areas, even underground or deep within urban infrastructure
Great power efficiency, devices can run on batteries for 10 years or more without a charge
Massive scale, connecting potentially millions of devices in a single deployment
Low cost communications hardware, enabling data collection devices to be built for less than $10
Low bandwidth, many use cases require only a few bytes of data to be transmitted per device per day
Find out more detail about the features of NB-IoT as described in the 3GPP specification Release 13 from June 2016
Uses existing LTE networks
Based on open standards – service is not vendor or operator dependent
Wide industry support from service providers through to chipset makers
Bi-directional communication
Operates in a licensed spectrum and provides assured quality of service with minimal risk of interference
Deepest and furthest reach of any LPWA network
50% of all wireless connections will be LPWA by 2025
Vodafone was 1st to announce launch of live commercial NB-IoT network in Spain (Jan 2017)
Vodafone was 1st to complete NB-IoT pilots
| Spain | Ireland |
| Italy | Netherlands |
| Australia | Turkey |
| Czech Republic | South Africa |
| Germany | New Zealand |
| Malta | Greece |
| UK | Portugal |
| Hungary |
Partner markets:
-TDC
-Maxis
The power of our network, as well as our place as a founding member of the GSMA NB-IoT Forum, puts us firmly at the forefront of delivering this pioneering technology.
Read more about what we are doing to enable the Internet of Things with NB-IoT
NB-IoT is an efficient, cost effective technology for a wide range of IoT applications. Any devices that have low energy consumption, low data transfer demands and are geographically dispersed or remote can benefit from its application. Developments so far include:
Street lighting
Smart waste
Smart transport
Road traffic monitoring
Smart parking
Infrastructure sensors
Pet tracking
Fire safety
Asset tracking
Location security
Smart metering
Warehouse monitoring
Safety and security
Wear monitoring
Animal welfare monitoring
Crop monitoring
Animal tracking
Soil monitoring
Warehouse monitoring
Safety and security
Wear monitoring
Smart laboratories
Asset tracking
Drug delivery
Wearables for elderly
Intelligent stores
Smart connected cabinets
Smart shelves
We have a number of NB-IoT OpenLabs available for customers, partners and vendors to test their applications, devices and chip sets in a secure, live environment.
Main OpenLab sites:
UK (Newbury)
Germany (Dusseldorf)
Italy (Milan)
South Africa (Vodacom, Midrand)
USA (Redwood City, CA)
Our OpenLabs are innovative places that provide an environment for application developers and device, module and chip manufacturers to test their products. This accelerates their time to market for NB-IoT devices and services. It also allows device manufacturers to verify that their products meet the exceptional sensitivity and battery life performance requirements of NB-IoT devices.
Services offered at our Open Labs include:
Developer Kit from Pycom
Pycom is a global Internet of Things technology company with a vision to give all connected ideas an opportunity to succeed. The company has pioneered an innovative and highly scalable IoT platform - a unique suite of NB-IoT capable hardware and software products that connect developers, enterprises and consumers. Vodafone Narrowband IoT connectivity Partner since January 2019.
See here for more information:- https://pycom.io/NB-IoT developer kit from Sodaq – an NB-IoT device powered by Vodafone
With Narrowband-IoT from Vodafone, Techem can track energy consumption reliably and cost-effectively.
Our OpenLabs provide a simulated real time environments for application developers and device, module and chip manufacturers to test their products.
Gartner has positioned Vodafone as a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for IoT Connectivity Services, Worldwide report 2019, for the sixth consecutive year
Vodafone IoT have connected over 94 million devices worldwide
We are the world's largest IoT services provider
