Commercial Apps Can Now Advance NB-IoT Progress As MediaTek & ZTE Jointly Announce NB-IoT R14 Certification

Internet-of-Things (IoT) is the current trend in the technology industry. This innovation will enable the connectivity of all smart devices which can then be controlled from a central hub. For this system to function properly, it needs a proper internet network. Presently, the uplink and downlink peak rates of the R13 standard can no longer meet the increasing demand for more and more Internet-of-Things applications on the market. Today, MediaTek and ZTE announced that it has concluded the high-speed testing of NB-IoT R14 Cat-NB2 specification. The R14 standard has an uplink/downlink data rates of over 150/100kbps which is better than the 60/21kbps of R13.

Using large transport blocks (2536 bits TBS) and 2HARQ process, the NB-IoT R14 specification can achieve over 100kbps uplink and downlink peak data rates. The NB-IoT R14 is specially designed in preparation for the maturation of Internet-of-Things. This network can perfectly handle mobility, positioning, multicasting, and multi-carrier technologies.

MediaTek Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Home Entertainment Business Group, Jerry Yu, said

“NB-IoT is a key technology for the Internet-of-Things era,”…“After completing the preliminary development of the technology and ecosystem, NB-IoT will enter the commercial phase in 2018 with mature products to be introduced for a wide variety of applications. MediaTek has always been at the forefront of NB-IoT – leading the introduction of the highly integrated MT2625 and MT2621 chipsets with NB-IoT R14 support – to go hand-in-hand with China Mobile to create the industry’s smallest NB-IoT module. Today, we have collaborated with ZTE to complete the first NB-IoT R14 commercial certification to push the industry forward. In the future, MediaTek will work closely with operators, base station equipment manufacturers, and terminal manufacturers to promote the commercial applications of NB-IoT and to embrace the Internet-of-Things era.”

As of now, MediaTek has developed two chips that sport IoT R14 specification. These are MT2625 and MT2621. The former is a single mode chip while the latter is a GSM+NB-IoT dual-mode chip. Some wearable devices equipped with these chips will be unveiled at the ongoing MWC 2018 conference in Barcelona, Spain.