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The operator says it will shift customers to “alternative network technologies such as LTE-M”
AT&T will decommission it narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network, with IoT workloads to be shifted to alterative technologies like LTE-M early next year.
NB-IoT – a low-power wide-area network technology – was standardised by 3GPP in 2016. Designed specifically to handle low-power IoT devices, the technology was built to allow devices to be more energy and spectrum efficient.
AT&T subsequently began offering NB-IoT services in 2019 and, according to the company’s 2023 sustainability report, currently has more than 127 million connected devices on its network as of Q4.
Now, however, AT&T says that it is aiming to improve IoT services for business customers by moving devices to alterative technologies like LTE-M, which can handle higher data rates.
“We are improving our IoT services for business customers by moving from NB IoT to the LTE-M network. This change will provide more data capacity for both fixed and mobile devices. As a result, we’ve stopped the certification of new NB-IoT devices and the sale of data plans utilizing the NB-IoT network. We’re working closely with customers to make this process as seamless as possible,” said AT&T in a statement reported by RCR Wireless.
The operator says it hopes to have fully transitioned customer devices off of its NB-IoT network by Q1 next year.
In addition to LTE-M, AT&T is also exploring another promising IoT technology in the form of the newly released 5G Reduced Capacity (RedCap). While this technology is still in its infancy, it potentially represents the next step-up from LTE-M, offering even greater capabilities for IoT devices while reducing energy usage and spectrum usage.
But while AT&T seemingly feels its IoT infrastructure warrants an upgrade, its rivals Verizon and T-Mobile consider the issue much less pressing, with both confirming to Light Reading that they have no immediate plans to shut down their own NB-IoT networks.
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