Vodafone makes first European voice call over CAT-M IoT link
Vodafone has successfully conducted an internet call over its commercial LTE Category M (CAT-M) network in Italy. This is the first time in Europe that a VoLTE call has been completed on active network infrastructure.
The CAT-M network is designed to support many Internet of Things (IoT) devices via a single mobile phone site without degrading the service to smartphone users. However the bandwidth available is deliberately limited.
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The technology has wide-reaching applications. In particular, it will support users of critical devices that require voice support as well as data connectivity. Vodafone sees this being used in connected healthcare applications, such as wearable health monitors or emergency teleassistance devices for the elderly as well as automated services within buildings, such as fire prevention devices and connected lifts.
It could also be used in the automotive industry for new alert mechanisms for vehicle accidents.
“The global reach of our digital networks and technologies has a key role in connecting people and machines in an emergency,” said Alberto Ripepi, Chief Network Officer at Vodafone.
“This technology is ideally suited to monitoring and tracking vital goods such as medical supplies, enabling safer homes for the elderly, and raising the alarm in an emergency, especially in remote and hard to reach places. Having launched the first nationwide network of its kind in Italy, we’ve now completed the first voice call in Europe,” he said.
CAT-M uses the 4G mobile network and has higher data rates and lower latency than Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), an alternative cellular IoT connectivity technology. Vodfone sees the two technologies as complementary, with NB-IoT used for connecting devices in hard-to-reach locations such as underground sensors – and even ones that withstand the wind and sea to monitor coastal erosion – which only need very low data rates and don’t need to be tracked on the move.
www.vodafone.com/business/iot/managed-iot-connectivity/lpwa
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