Softbank's NB-IoT strategy, the only one in Japan
LPWA (Low Power Wide Area), which features low power consumption, broadband, and long-distance communication, includes "Licensed LPWA" that uses frequencies for mobile phones and "Licensed LPWA" that uses the 920 MHz band that does not require a radio license. It is roughly divided into unlicensed LPWA.
Licensed LPWA uses base stations of communication carriers, so operating costs are higher than unlicensed LPWA, but wide coverage and stable service can be provided.
According to the GSMA, an industry association of mobile telecommunications carriers, licensed LPWA is deployed in 129 countries and regions, of which 93 are NB-IoT and LTE-M. Far more than 36 countries/regions (as of January 2020).
As you can see from the fact that NB-IoT is an abbreviation for Narrow Band IoT, it uses a very narrow bandwidth of 180 kHz. The communication speed is 62kbps up/26kbps down. Because of its narrow band and low speed, it consumes less power and can operate for a long time with batteries, while also reducing operating costs.
Taking advantage of these simple characteristics, it is mainly used in smart meters and smart parking overseas. It is predicted that 2.2 billion devices will be connected by 2025, mainly in China, where the government is promoting the introduction as a national policy (Counterpoint Research).
In Japan, NTT Docomo and Softbank originally provided commercial NB-IoT services. However, since Docomo ended the service at the end of March, Softbank is now the only provider of NB-IoT.
SoftBank has been actively working on NB-IoT from the beginning, with a policy of "preparing a wide range of options in order to propose the optimal communication standard for the purpose of IoT." . In November 2016, right after the completion of standardization at the GSMA, we obtained an experimental test station license, and in the commercial service that started in April 2018, the exceptional fee system of "10 yen per month" attracted a great deal of attention.
NB-IoT is suitable for applications that exchange very small amounts of data infrequently and inexpensively. However, in reality, such use cases are limited. There are a lot of unsatisfactory projects here and there,” points out Junko Asakura, General Manager of the IT-OT Innovation Headquarters CoE Division.
With NB-IoT, which has slow communication speeds, FOTA (Firmware Over The Air: firmware distribution and updating via wireless communication) takes time, so the probability of not being able to complete the update process increases and battery consumption increases. There is a "weakness" that increases.
"Unlike overseas, Japan has a high need for FOTA because it wants to keep devices in the best condition at all times. However, technical ingenuity is required to smoothly implement FOTA with NB-IoT." As a result, the cost of the device rises, making it unprofitable.” (Mr. Asakura)
For this reason, immediately after the completion of the system development, it has been attracting attention as a “big favorite” for IoT communication. Even with NB-IoT, when commercial services started, the introduction did not progress at all. Other LPWA standards, such as LTE-M, which is suitable for FOTA, and unlicensed Sigfox, which is cheaper than NB-IoT, have more introduction cases.
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Licensed LPWA uses base stations of communication carriers, so operating costs are higher than unlicensed LPWA, but wide coverage and stable service can be provided.
According to the GSMA, an industry association of mobile telecommunications carriers, licensed LPWA is deployed in 129 countries and regions, of which 93 are NB-IoT and LTE-M. Far more than 36 countries/regions (as of January 2020).
As you can see from the fact that NB-IoT is an abbreviation for Narrow Band IoT, it uses a very narrow bandwidth of 180 kHz. The communication speed is 62kbps up/26kbps down. Because of its narrow band and low speed, it consumes less power and can operate for a long time with batteries, while also reducing operating costs.
Taking advantage of these simple characteristics, it is mainly used in smart meters and smart parking overseas. It is predicted that 2.2 billion devices will be connected by 2025, mainly in China, where the government is promoting the introduction as a national policy (Counterpoint Research).
In Japan, NTT Docomo and Softbank originally provided commercial NB-IoT services. However, since Docomo ended the service at the end of March, Softbank is now the only provider of NB-IoT.
SoftBank has been actively working on NB-IoT from the beginning, with a policy of "preparing a wide range of options in order to propose the optimal communication standard for the purpose of IoT." . In November 2016, right after the completion of standardization at the GSMA, we obtained an experimental test station license, and in the commercial service that started in April 2018, the exceptional fee system of "10 yen per month" attracted a great deal of attention.
NB-IoT is suitable for applications that exchange very small amounts of data infrequently and inexpensively. However, in reality, such use cases are limited. There are a lot of unsatisfactory projects here and there,” points out Junko Asakura, General Manager of the IT-OT Innovation Headquarters CoE Division.
With NB-IoT, which has slow communication speeds, FOTA (Firmware Over The Air: firmware distribution and updating via wireless communication) takes time, so the probability of not being able to complete the update process increases and battery consumption increases. There is a "weakness" that increases.
"Unlike overseas, Japan has a high need for FOTA because it wants to keep devices in the best condition at all times. However, technical ingenuity is required to smoothly implement FOTA with NB-IoT." As a result, the cost of the device rises, making it unprofitable.” (Mr. Asakura)
For this reason, immediately after the completion of the system development, it has been attracting attention as a “big favorite” for IoT communication. Even with NB-IoT, when commercial services started, the introduction did not progress at all. Other LPWA standards, such as LTE-M, which is suitable for FOTA, and unlicensed Sigfox, which is cheaper than NB-IoT, have more introduction cases.
Partially re-edited and reprinted from the June 2020 issue of Monthly Telecommunications
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