du launches next generation narrow-band IoT services

The NB-IoT will leverage the purpose-built IoT platform built by du, to enable devices to deliver smart city applications ranging from smart metering, smart parking, trackers, smart health, industrial and agriculture cases.

This announcement showed the consortium’s commitment to accelerate the adoption of NB-IoT to serve customised IoT applications and lay the foundation for the 5G era of massive IoT connectivity.

NB-IoT technology is supported by a wide range of modules powered by MediaTek devices and NB-IoT 3GPP Rel 14 Network provided by Nokia and Affirmed Networks.

As part of this collaboration, du, Nokia, Affirmed Networks and MediaTek have successfully demonstrated an electricity and water smart metering use case and its associated benefits.

Saleem Alblooshi, chief infrastructure officer at EITC, said, “The launch of the first 3GPP Release 14 NB-IoT network opens up possibilities of newer implementations due to the higher throughput, lower latency and mobility enhancements.”

Bernard Najm, head of the Middle East Market Unit at Nokia, added, “This launch marks a milestone in the UAE in creating a cost-efficient IoT ecosystem with the country’s LTE asset, connecting numerous devices. It allows the operator to introduce innovative services in various verticals such as energy, water, home appliances, transport, healthcare, and manufacturing, creating revenue opportunities as well as comfort in lifestyle."

Miles Sun, general manager corporate sales Asia and Africa at MediaTek, commented, “Our focus is to deliver an efficient, ultra-low-power design with deep coverage, which means running on battery for long periods and connecting smart devices in locations that are typically hard to reach by a cellular signal. This will enable du and its partners to fulfil the vision of Dubai Smart City with massive IoT deployment on end products that are highly cost and size efficient."