Telecom Italia already offers NB-IoT services in 75% of its 4G network . The nationwide rollout is due to be completed by this coming January. The availability of NB-IoT across the whole of Italy will enable the commercial development of corresponding services, from smart meters through district heating and environmental management services. In close collaboration with Olivetti and Telecom Italia’s NB-IoT Open Lab , solutions are currently being developed and brought to market maturity. Back in April, Olivetti , together with Huawei, tested a smart meter system for Turin’s water supply . Huawei had already had experience with such systems in Lisbon .

NarrowBand IoT is also the game changer for Deutsche Telekom, both in the IoT and for industry users. The decisive success factors are low costs and an optimized design for small-scale send and receive operations. Telecom Italia generally sees the current NB-IoT network as more of a testing and development space. The full potential in industrial automation or in the automotive industry – in economic terms, too – will first be brought to bear by 5G networks, and their significantly lower signal propagation delays.