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LTE-M
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LTE-M or LTE-MTC ("Long-Term Evolution Machine Type Communication") is a type of low-power wide-area network radio communication technology standard developed by 3GPP for machine-to-machine and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. LTE-M includes eMTC ("enhanced Machine Type Communication"), also known as LTE Cat-M1, whose specification was frozen in June 2016 as part of 3GPP Release 13 (LTE Advanced Pro), as well as LTE Cat-M2.
Competing 3GPP IoT technologies include NB-IoT and EC-GSM-IoT. The advantage of LTE-M over NB-IoT is its comparatively higher data rate, mobility, and voice over the network, but it requires more bandwidth, is more costly, and cannot be put into guard band portion of the frequency band for now. Unlike LTE-M, which supports seamless handover between base stations allowing devices to maintain connectivity while in motion, NB-IoT (Cat-NB1) devices that move between cells must disconnect and re-register with the new base station, making LTE-M better suited for mobile applications such as asset trackers and vehicle telematics. Compared to LTE Release 12 Cat-0 modem, an LTE-M model is claimed to be 80% less expensive (in terms of the bill of materials), support up to 18 dB better coverage, and a battery lifetime that can last up to several years. In April 2024, the Global Mobile Suppliers Association reported that around 258 operators had deployed/launched either NB-IoT or LTE-M networks in 68 countries.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release 8 | Release 13 | Release 12 | Release 13 | Release 14 | Release 13 | Release 14 | Release 13 |
| 10 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | ~4 Mbit/s | 26 kbit/s | 127 kbit/s | 474 kbit/s (EDGE) | ||
| 2 Mbit/s (EGPRS2B) | |||||||
| 5 Mbit/s | ~7 Mbit/s | 66 kbit/s (multi-tone) | |||||
| 16.9 kbit/s (single-tone) | 159 kbit/s | ||||||
| 50–100 ms | not deployed | 10–15ms | 1.6–10 s | 700 ms – 2 s | |||
| 2 | 1 | 1–2 | |||||
| Full duplex | Full or half duplex | Half duplex | |||||
| 1.4–20 MHz | 1.4 MHz | 5 MHz | 180 kHz | 200 kHz | |||
| 2 (MIMO) | 1 (SISO) | 1–2 | |||||
| 23 dBm | 20 / 23 dBm | 14 / 20 / 23 dBm | 23 / 33 dBm |
As of March 2019 the Global Mobile Suppliers Association had identified:
- 60 operators in 35 countries investing in LTE-M networks
- 34 of those operators in 24 countries had deployed/launched their networks
As of February 2022, GSMA had listed LTE-M as being launched on 129 commercial networks, with China, India and Indonesia not deploying LTE-M network among major economies.
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NB-IoT
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6LoWPAN
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Sigfox
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LoRa / LoRaWAN
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NB-Fi
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Weightless (wireless communications)
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DASH7
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LTE User Equipment Categories
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Multefire
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LTE sidelink
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802.11ah (Wi-FI HaLow)
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Standards for the IoT
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