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Global IoT Connectivity

  • 1.  Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Nov 23, 2018 03:25
    ​Dear TM Forum Community,

    Some applications of IoT would require global connectivity.

    What IoT use cases can you think of that require global connectivity?
    Do you think there would be a big demand in the next 5 to 10 years?
    What do you think are the winning factors, in quality service and customer experience etc?

    Glad to hear from your expert advice!
    BR// Dominic
    #IoTandSmartCity

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    Dominic Law
    PCCW Global
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  • 2.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Nov 23, 2018 12:35
    Global connectivity is a vague description.  Are you asking about ubiquitous connectivity -or- barrier free connectivity?  The first few things that come to mind are:

    • International Cellular Roaming
    • International Aviation
    • Shipping
    In terms of IoT use cases, I'm leaning towards the challenges of ubiquitous connectivity.  Think agriculture and scientific applications.  Many scientific applications, such as seismic or oceanic monitoring, don't necessarily have a need for two-way communication.  There's no cellular coverage inside the crater of a volcano. 

    Where the primary winning factor is actually going to be power efficiency.  The only advantage that IoT really brings, is bi-directional communication via internet connectivity.  But that immediately decreases the power efficiency. 

    There are probably a lot of case studies available from organizations such as the USGS or NOAA around the subject of monitoring station deployment.  Once IoT starts to move into agriculture, or anywhere else, IoT providers are going to face many of the same issues.

    While there may be advantages to agricultural monitoring via IoT devices, having the replace the batteries will become a nuisance.  In Smart Cities, your deploying devices where none existed before.  In Telecom terms, you're going to roll a truck more often to support these devices.  At a minimum, batteries will need to periodically be replaced.  Even with renewables and improved battery technologies, preventive maintenance will still be required.

    I doubt quality service would be high on the requirements list, since TCP/IP has error correction, and IoT is not likely to be used for voice applications.  It's hard to gauge customer experience when many IoT devices are going be connect and forget, until the batteries need to be replaced.

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    Brian LaVallee
    INVITE Communications Co. Ltd
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Nov 26, 2018 02:05
    ​Hello Brian,
    Thank you for your idea.
    Sorry, I didn't clarify earlier that my thinking of Global Connectivity is along the line of roaming but minimising or removing the high cost of roaming.
    So one example is connected cars which are travelling outside the home countries, which could be, say, very common in Europe. There should be plenty of other use cases...
    Cheers,

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    Dominic Law
    PCCW Global
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Nov 27, 2018 05:21
    Dominic,

    There will be a large number of usecases that will require global connectivity, but maybe its better start by to considering where people would pay for such an expensive proposition? The satellite communications industry has provided connectivity to high value assets for a number of years, so a good place to start is with satellites key markets, these include:

    • Global Maritime Freight
    • Aircraft
    • O&G platforms
    • International Corporations
    • Government / Military

    Please let us know more about the problem you are trying to fix and we can give some better quality answers. Always happy to help.

    Denis


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    Denis Sutherland

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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Nov 28, 2018 02:11
    ​Hi,

    I think cross border especially logistics is a growing solution.

    What IoT use cases can you think of that require global connectivity?
    • Freight use cases for cross border - tracking of goods, monitoring of truck weight, temp, diesel etc,
    • Animal tracking mainly game reserves
    • Airport - Luggage/equipment handling - Especially high value
    • Shipping - Container tracking, ship data
    • Trains - Container tracking
    • If you looking at current Global Sim solutions from companies like Vodafone - Companies like BMW install the SIM at the factory therefore don't require the need to negotiate a local contract with a local Mobile player. Another use case is for redundancy as the SIM is able to work on multiple networks, ensuring a better SLA for critical solutions such as energy management

    Do you think there would be a big demand in the next 5 to 10 years?
    Yes expecially if we consider companies are investigating use cases to reduce risk, including insurance companies

    What do you think are the winning factors, in quality service and customer experience etc?
    I think it will be use case dependent. Problem and Value will define winning factors.

    I think as the ecosystem gets bigger we will see a need for global connectivity.
    What I would like to see is more companies working to build the ecosystem, think a device being shipped from a factory with a sim. The data from the various sensors on this device can be used to create a bigger industry. Data can be used to improve the product, used for maintenance - If a fault is detected, the company can send a request to their partners who have signed up to dispatch a technician. Can be used my insurance to build a better risk profile. Can be used by companies to offer discounts or enhance loyalty programs. Once we see the ecosystem getting bigger we will see a bigger proliferation of IoT

    Raven

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    Ravendran Naicker
    Liquid Telecom South Africa
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 28, 2018 06:47
    ​Hi Dominic,

    The classification of IOT use cases can descend from the machine types which are communicating. Therefore IOT use cases can be grouped under Critical or Massive Machine Type Communication (MTC) umbrella.

    At high level various V2X (Vehicle to X) centric use cases can fall under Massive Machine type (MMT) use-case group which would need global connectivity. I think Denis has already thrown light on that.

    On the other hand use cases like Air traffic control, Smart Grids, Smart multi node factories, public safety and E-health would fall under Critical Machine type (CMT) group. This would also need global connectivity.

    Irrespective of the above Security use cases or challenges would vary depending on whether it is a MMT IOT or CMT IOT. The service revenue models and the associated use cases would also differ accordingly.

    You may elucidate further and would be happy to help.

    Regards



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    Sudipta Dutta
    Ericsson Global Services India Pvt. Ltd.
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Feb 07, 2019 11:07
    Hi,

    stuff that moves around globally and regionally would typically be ships, containers, parcels and letters, aircraft, cars, trains and people.

    There a a few ways to overcome roaming costs when you do bulk IOT.

    Alternative 1:
    * Sign a master agreement with a global Tier 1 which gives you good rates in a certain region where you believe your device(s) will mostly be roaming. Typically, you can sign a few of these to cover the world if you're not that cost oriented. Equip SIM according to the region your device will mostly operate in and use whitelisting/blacklisting to avoid horror stories (like data in Lebanon. Or cross border Brazil issues).

    Alternative 2:
    * Devices must be using eSIM

    * Execute alternative 1

    * Sign additional purchase agreements with local providers where roaming rates are horrible and your devices may go

    * If your devices are not GPS equipped, you can use the CDRs to discover roaming situations

    * Using event notification from the roaming discovery, you can execute an eSIM change to the appropriate provider for the current location of your device.

    * Watch out for non-NRTRDE compliant networks

    * Requires  central CDR intake platform with basic analytics, some custom code to submit order, simple product catalogue capability and simple order orchestration.

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    Reid Hauke Tønnesen
    Telia Company
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Jun 17, 2019 07:25
    Do you think there would be a big demand in the next 5 to 10 years?
    Yes, surely the scope of IOT in the next 5 to 10 years is immense. every growing technology industry is focusing on managing data in its best way out and to collect, the data IOT is the best way. hence if a company invests in IoT development labs then they will turn out a lot of money in the future.
    If you want to see the places where IoT can be applied or have the scope to be applied then visit PureSoftware. It is one of the leading brands for IoT, RPA, Machine learning etc.

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    Shashank singh
    TO BE VERIFIED
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Sep 02, 2019 00:41
    eSIM is the key!
    Check GSMA's eSIM for M2M specs

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    Bassem Abdou
    Etihad Etisalat Mobily
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Sep 26, 2019 08:54
    Edited by Akash Takyar Sep 26, 2019 08:55

    Hi Dominic,


    Blockchain empowers the IoT devices to enhance security and bring transparency in IoT ecosystems. According to IDC, 20% of all IoT deployments will enable blockchain based solutions by 2019.
    Here are a few Blockchain IoT use cases on how combining IoT with Blockchain can have a significant impact across multiple industries: 

    1. Smart Homes

    2. Supply Chain and Logistics
    Supply Chain and Logistics


    3. Automotive Industry
    Automotive Industry


    4. Sharing Economy
    Sharing Economy

    5.Pharmacy Industry
    Pharmacy Industry
    Several industries have begun to explore the potential applications of IoT and Blockchain to improve efficiency and bring automation. Here, we discussed some real-world products, employing this technology to build robust business solutions.



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    Akash Takyar
    LeewayHertz
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Global IoT Connectivity

    Posted Dec 08, 2022 04:33

    Hello Dominic,

    Thanks for discussing this point.

    Global connectivity is enabled by combining the service of mobile network operators (MNOs), often referred to as carriers, as well as the roaming agreements that they put in place between them. 


    The growth of IoT global connectivity also means increased internet connectivity and access. As mentioned earlier, only 63% of the population of the world have internet access easily. The more IoT cellular connectivity grows, the more access the world will have to constant internet connectivity. 

    We are also serving IoT services for our clients all over the world



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    Nicholas Winston
    Private business
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    Original Message