What is NB-IoT?
Figure 1: NB-IoT application scenario art
NB-IoT English Narrowband Internet of Acronym Things (narrowband things), and a low power wide area network (LPWAN, Low Power Wide Area Network) communication technology, NB-IoT by optimizing the network protocol, ultra narrow band design, semi-double simplex mode, retransmission mode and PSM energy optimization techniques, so as to have wide coverage, low power consumption, low cost, large connection characteristics, is widely used in low-speed, non-speech, battery powered, mobile less demanding things scene, according to GSMA predicts that 60% of future networking applications will focus on such scenes.
Figure 2: Evolution of NB-IoT technical standards
In terms of standard communications, Huawei led the formulation of NB-IoT protocol, NB-IoT their technical characteristics more in line with the application of things, the future will be gradual evolution 5G standards. June 2016, NB-IoT core standards in 3GPP R13 frozen, establish basic standards NB-IoT, mainly to meet the power consumption, coverage, functional requirements connected; NB-IoT standards to increase localization in 2017 R14 version, mobility, and other features to enhance the rate; NB-IoT standards in 2018 R15 version adds features such as TDD and latency enhancements, and support for common deployment within NB-IoT and NR belt; R16 version is standardization process, NB-IoT and 5G core network integration ensure the realization of the 5G era mMTC business. July 2019, NB-IoT officially became a candidate for one of 5G mMTC ITU's technical program, paving the way for NB-IoT standards 5G applications.
NB-IoT carrier construction
With the NB-IoT technology continues to mature, operators actively NB-IoT accelerate the pace of network construction, the current domestic three operators have been achieved over the township continuous coverage. October 2018 China Mobile Group launched "NB raid", and vigorously expand NB business, as of December 2019 over 30 million subscribers, a net increase of 2019 over 57% share, the majority of existing base stations have the ability to open software, with Province side business continues to expand the network construction. Ministry plans in 2020, the NB-IoT as an important direction of evolution of cellular communications network, continue to promote the construction and development of the network business.
Operators in the network infrastructure investment to increase at the same time, things gradually improve the professional capacity of the company, revenues from traditional pipeline terminal layout gradually, cloud platform and other services. In addition operators with industrial advantages, they established their own things alliance ecosystem, integration of industry resources to provide rich networking industry solutions.
2G IOT development bottleneck
Low-speed movement of things facing 2G service disconnection, the user need to find new alternative bearer service. Things Terminal 2G long life cycle, high replacement costs, the more development, the future of the heavier burden. 2G network while the high-load, low load, Part reached the maximum capacity of the hot zone.
NB-IoT industry chain case
FIG 3: NB-IoT chain configuration
NB-IoT industry chain mainly consists of chips, modules, terminal operators, cloud platform and other aspects of the composition, with the application upgrade toB related industries, industry will continue to expand.
chip:
NB-IoT mainstream chip makers are mostly domestic manufacturers, mainly Huawei Hass, MediaTek, purple sharp exhibition, ZTE and other micro. As the chip industry segmentation capabilities, IP licensing the chip, chip design, protocol stack development services scale, there a number of start-ups NB-IoT chip manufacturers, including communication core shift, wing core information technology promise led chip products already on the market promotion. Overall speaking, NB-IoT chip, low-cost direction to the high level of integration.
Modules:
NB-IoT module is an important part of the industry chain, the major manufacturers are farther away, the move was linked, at sea, and through the wide, well-technology, LSD, etc. Qi Jun, NB-IoT module to small size, with the main control functions, low-cost direction, the current module prices have dropped to 20 yuan or less, in the case of market competition continues to increase, the mainstream chip manufacturers will launch the next generation of products in 2020, module prices 2G module will test a low level, and promote the development of industrial scale NB-IoT.
End products:
Currently NB-IoT end products are used in industries such as water, electricity, gas and other industries of smart metering, smart door locks, positioning terminals, with the NB-IoT future network upgrades and coverage levels increase, NB-IoT Terminal products will continue to expand to the C-terminus of the market to meet a wider more diverse user needs.
Operator:
国内三家运营商非常重视NB-IoT网络建设投入，中国移动、中国电信在城市范围基站部署数量相当，并不断的加强网络服务质量。在用户比较关心的资费方面，三家运营商NB-IoT业务的标准资费大体相当，根据在网时长、项目规模都会给予一定折扣，短期内不会出现运营商的价格战，各家在定价策略上略有不同。
图4：运营商NB-IoT资费
云平台：
物联网云平台比较知名有阿里云、华为云等，目前国内运营商也在大力布局云平台及应用，实现自有业务闭环，例如中国移动的OneNET、中国电信的天翼云、中国联通的与沃云，运营商在对某些垂直行业的整合及应用上具有一定优势。
中国移动自主研发的OneNET平台是国内领先的IoT PaaS云平台，目前连接数超过1.38亿，用户数超过14.2万，服务企业数接近1万，承载应用数超过6万， API日调用数2亿次。平台推出NB-IoT物联网套件，提供“终端-平台-应用”整体解决方案，帮助企业快速实现NB-IoT能力升级。
图5：运营商云平台
NB-IoT行业应用分析
2019年5月8日，工信部、国资委《关于开展深入推进宽带网络提速降费 支撑经济高质量发展2019专项行动的通知》（工信部联通信〔2019〕94号）的“重点任务”中明确表示：“面向物流等移动物联网应用需求，进一步升级NB-IoT（窄带物联网）网络能力，持续完善NB-IoT网络覆盖。建立移动物联网发展监测体系，促进各地NB-IoT应用和产业发展。组织NB-IoT优秀应用案例征集活动，推广典型应用。鼓励行业间、产业链各方加强合作，推动车联网、工业互联网等应用规模发展，支撑智能制造”。
图6：移动NB-IoT行业应用构成
目前NB-IoT应用主要集中在toB场景的垂直行业。表计、消防、智慧城市NB-IoT比较成熟，规模发展迅速，市场认可度高；共享行业、金融行业NB-IoT具有替代2G的能力，市场有发展潜力；智能家居行业以家庭为单位，市场空间大；车联网、智能穿戴等行业由于移动性、语音的要求，NB-IoT无法替代2G，需要eMTC、LTE-Cat1技术承载。
2019年中国移动参与天津智慧水燃项目，智能水燃表总量达560万，天津移动联合中移物联网成立专项攻坚团队，面向客户提供“模组（M5310-A）+物联卡+平台（OneNET）”解决方案。此项目为目前全国行业内最大的NB-IoT智能表改造项目及NB-IoT单体项目，在行业和NB-IoT物联网应用领域内具备可复制性，项目示范意义重大。
NB-IoT是行业市场的入口
物联网业务拓展中，2G/4G的深度覆盖，使得行业客户对运营商的需求只有管道，然而在NB-IoT领域，运营商掌握着行业拓展的金钥匙。
NB-IoT作为物联网发展的先行者，是运营商拓展行业市场的重要抓手。中国移动将加大NB-IoT业务的发展，通过构建NB-IoT精品网、定制解决方案、融合产业链上下游资源，以DICT带动价值提升，推动整个产业的进步。
