For industry chain companies, a longer cycle will ensure fixed investment in the NB-IoT field. For example, the operator‘s investment in the NB-IoT network actually constitutes part of the 5G investment, which is a long-term investment for the future. The operator will continue to operate this network for more than 10 years, and the long-term operation can ensure its return on investment. At the same time, upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain can also plan long-term product, system and program roadmaps.

 

From the perspective of industry users, there are more scenarios with low-speed and massive Internet of Things connections and scenarios with longer life cycles. Many terminals need to run for 5-10 years or even longer under battery power. IoT equipment manufacturers know that the cost of the communication module itself is actually very low compared to the travel and labor costs of replacing the communication module. If the communication module needs to be replaced one by one because the network is out of service, it will cause a huge burden to the enterprise. Therefore, users of the Internet of Things naturally have a rigid demand for long-term services of network infrastructure. Under the background of current 2G network frequency reduction and de-networking, there is a great risk for IoT users to choose 2G connection, and NB-IoT is officially included in the 5G standard, and its network operation for more than 10 years will dispel this concern for users and protect their assets. The network terminal is connected for a long period of time.

Secondly, the evolution of unified technology guarantees the new demands of the Internet of Things

At present, the 5G R16 version of the standard has been frozen, but the 5G standard will continue to evolve to meet the growing market demand for mobile communications. As a core component of the 5G standard, NB-IoT is also continuing to evolve and is also included in the overall evolution of 5G, forming a synergy with other 5G standards.

For the industry, the unified evolution of standards is of great significance. Compared with the NB R13/R14/R15 standard, the NB R16 standard is very stable on the air interface, that is, taking into account the technological evolution, thus ensuring the compatibility with the previous version of the product, and conforming to the consistent requirements of the 3GPP standard evolution. In this way, the new stage of the NB-IoT air interface standard can be compatible with the previous version. From a vertical perspective, NB-IoT and other 5G standards perform their duties and jointly cover most of the communication connection scenarios. A set of 5G standards can meet the diverse and complex connections of users. Needs, and will not form duplication of work. This means that the industry does not need to worry about standard incompatibility when formulating product development routes, and the same operator can meet diverse connection requirements.

For example, in the overall evolution of the 5G R16 standard, the content that NB-IoT fully integrates as a 5G component has been considered, such as the coexistence of NB-IoT and 5G NR, NB-IoT access to the 5G core network, and in terms of meeting the needs of the Internet of Things , To further reduce terminal power consumption, improve spectrum efficiency, and enhance interoperability.

The development of mobile communication networks in the 5G era has formed a global unified standard. The formal inclusion of NB-IoT in the 5G standard also fully reflects the strong inclusiveness of 5G. Behind this global unified standard is also driven by the industry‘s need to reduce complexity and cost. For low-power, low-speed, and massive connection scenarios, including the unified standard of the 5G family and a clear evolution path will undoubtedly support a clear evolution path for user products and applications, and give users confidence to a certain extent.

3. The exploration of NB-IoT industry ecology will be a useful reference for 5G ecological construction

Long before the first version of the NB-IoT standard was frozen, the industry started the journey of NB-IoT ecological construction. Unlike the traditional communications industry, the Internet of Things not only involves all aspects of the ICT industry, but also requires the participation of various vertical industries. Therefore, the exploration of the industrial ecology is carried out on a broader level.

The open laboratory played a key role in the early development of NB-IoT. For example, in 2016, Huawei, Vodafone, etc. announced the establishment of the world‘s first NB-IoT open laboratory to provide a pre-integrated test environment for application developers, terminal, module and chip manufacturers, and industrial ecological companies can use this to carry out network solution verification , New application innovation, terminal integration and product certification. Subsequently, NB-IoT open laboratories have been established in many places around the world. Many manufacturers who were engaged in the development of NB-IoT products and solutions in the early stage have more than once stated that open laboratories have greatly reduced the difficulty and cost of their development in the early stage of industrial development.

Deep integration with vertical industries and joint work are also important tasks for NB-IoT ecological exploration and practice. A typical case is that in the past few years, operators, communication equipment vendors, terminal numbers, and different vertical industry associations, alliances, and leading companies have jointly launched multiple industry-based IoT standards and integrated NB-IoT related capabilities into each In the industry‘s own standards. For example, the "Smart Gas Meter Reading System Based on NB-IoT Technology" issued by the China City Gas Association, the "Internet of Things Water Meter" issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other industry standards such as household appliances and fire protection have accelerated the application of NB-IoT in these industries. .

After several years of hard work, the current NB-IoT industrial ecological construction has achieved initial results. For example, the domestic NB-IoT chip field has formed a leading enterprise + SME multi-supplier pattern. Dozens of mainstream module manufacturers have NB-IoT products. At present, the cost of NB-IoT modules has an advantage over 2G, and the application industry It has already broken through the initial public utilities and has landed in a large number of industries.

As NB-IoT is included in the 5G family, the NB-IoT industry ecology will also be an indispensable and important part of the 5G industry ecology. The construction of NB-IoT‘s industrial ecology in recent years has laid the foundation for the future implementation of 5G and the further construction of the industrial ecology. Open laboratory construction, joint promotion of benchmarking cases, joint formulation of industry standards, and release of technical white papers are also important content of the current industry to promote the ecological construction of 5G in thousands of industries.

Fourth, NB-IoT has become the pioneer of 5G, forming many large-scale cases and accumulating experience for 5G toB

At present, the number of domestic NB-IoT connections has exceeded 100 million, and NB-IoT has become a veritable 5G pioneer. Of course, the first mover lies not only in the scale of its connections, but also in driving operators and the industry to think deeply about the changes that ICT will bring to the industry.

Before 5G, all kinds of enterprises in the mobile communication industry chain faced more consumer market services. Although a large number of companies and industry technical solutions were dedicated to serving them, on the one hand, the penetration rate was low, and on the other hand, they did not penetrate into the core of vertical industries and enterprises. In the production and operation process. The broader market for 5G is the IoT demand of various vertical industries, helping vertical industries to bring about digital transformation, as Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology said, "80% of 5G is used to connect things."

NB-IoT has been positioned as object-oriented communication since its inception. In recent years, it has continued to serve a large number of industries, improving, optimizing and even changing the production and operation of some industries. For example, with the application of NB-IoT, the gas industry not only realizes remote meter reading, but also starts gas big data operations based on this. Gas operators have formed some new business models; white goods are based on NB-IoT, forming shared and A new product form and model of time-sharing leasing.

In these practices, NB-IoT practitioners must penetrate into the production and operation of a large number of vertical industries and have a deep understanding of the digital needs of vertical industries. At present, 5G commercialization is accelerating. In addition to the personal consumer market, 5G practitioners must penetrate the to B market and must have a deep understanding of the digital needs of the industry, and go to the field, factory workshops and vertical industry practitioners to jointly design 5G application solutions And the industry experience accumulated by NB-IoT before has enriched the practice of 5G industry, and it can also be said that it is the first step for 5G to further expand the to B market.

For many 5G practitioners, NB-IoT may have become a good "stepping stone" for entering the vertical market. For example, if a manufacturing company has previously deployed NB-IoT asset management and energy management solutions, and the current 5G commercial background may have demand for high-definition video surveillance, machine vision, industrial automation wireless replacement, etc., while the previous NB-IoT The practice of IoT makes it easier for 5G practitioners to understand the needs of users in the manufacturing industry, and can quickly implement corresponding solutions for them.

In addition, in addition to the to B market, 5G NB-IoT can also bring brand premiums to the 2C industry, stimulating the promotion and popularization of smart homes, personal wear and other scenarios.

Summarize

The International Telecommunication Union made a resolution to officially approve NB-IoT as a 5G standard. As the core support standard for 5G mMTC scenarios, NB-IoT fully meets the KPI requirements of mMTC scenarios, and it deserves to be included in the 5G standard. As a core component of 5G, NB-IoT forms a clear evolution path in the 5G unified standard architecture, continues to support the needs of the industry, and guarantees the industry‘s return on investment with a long technology life cycle. The ecological construction and industrial application practices of NB-IoT in the past few years have made it a 5G pioneer. In the future, it will incorporate and enrich the 5G ecosystem and 5G industrial applications, and accelerate the large-scale commercial use of 5G. In the context of 5G commercial acceleration this year, NB-IoT has become an official 5G standard, which will have a profound impact on the 5G and Internet of Things industry in the next 10 years.