Ericsson, China Unicom and Qualcomm Technologies completed last December an end-to-end data call using Cat-M1 technology on Unicom’s live network in Beijing.
The trial used Qualcomm MDM9206 LTE modem communicating live on a mobile broadband network provided by Ericsson. The trial focused on the evaluation of Cat-M1, a new cellular IoT technology that was standardized in 3GPP Release 13 for low-power wide-area (LPWA) applications and services.
The initiative is part of a project called “China Unicom Cellule IoT technology and applications trial” which was launched by the China Unicom Network Technology Research Institute (CUNTRI) in 2016.
To support successful implementation of this project, Ericsson and China Unicom Beijing branch deployed Cat-M1 and NB-IoT trial sites on live networks in the Yizhuang and Fangshan areas of Beijing.
“IoT, the fourth wave of mobile communication, will drive the revenue growth of operators’ mobile services. China Unicom is trialing NB-IoT and Cat-M1 technology which enables us to continue exploring new models of IoT services,” said Yun Hu, director of IoT technology and development center at CUNTRI.
“We aim to bring in more industry partners to build more new IoT applications in China Unicom’s IoT open lab, to leap forward to the era of IoE (Internet of Everything),” she said.