NB-IoT Enabled Smart Meter & Smart Parking Shaping Smart Cities - Part 1

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3Q 2017 | IN-4714

During the Huawei Analyst Summit held in Singapore in May 2017, Huawei announced a massive commercial deployment of 3GPP standard NB-IoT (Release 13) in 2017, including at least 30 NB-IoT networks across 20+ countries worldwide including Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain), South America (Chile), North America (Canada), South Africa, Asia (South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, UAE, Saudi Arabia), and Australia. In China, China Telecom conducted software upgrades across its 310,000 base stations, and China Unicom has 800 new base stations to support NB-IoT.

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NB-IoT Networks will be Deployed in 20+ Countries in 2017

NEWS


During the Huawei Analyst Summit held in Singapore in May 2017, Huawei announced a massive commercial deployment of 3GPP standard NB-IoT (Release 13) in 2017, including at least 30 NB-IoT networks across 20+ countries worldwide including Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain), South America (Chile), North America (Canada), South Africa, Asia (South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, UAE, Saudi Arabia), and Australia. In China, China Telecom conducted software upgrades across its 310,000 base stations, and China Unicom has 800 new base stations to support NB-IoT.

Additionally, Telecom M1 announced commercial deployment of NB-IoT in Singapore in August 2017 and SingTel in September 2017. Interestingly, Huawei also cited they have discussion with Telecom companies in India and targets commercial deployment of NB-IoT in 2017. NB-IoT module vendor products include Huawei Boudica 120 CS, Boudica 150 ES, Qualcomm MDM 9206, U-blox SARA-N2, Sequans Communications Monarch, and Quectel BC95).

A more detailed discussion on can be found in ABI Research report Smart Cities in North America and Industry Survey: Transformative Technology Adoption and Attitudes - Utilities

NB-IoT-enabled Smart Meter in Asia and Europe

IMPACT


In March 2017, Huawei, Shenzhen Water Group and China Telecom announced the commercial deployment of 1,200 NB-IoT-enabled smart water meters for South Pearl Garden and residential premises in Yantian District of Shenzhen, China. China conducted software upgrades across its existing 500 base stations to support NB-IoT in Shenzhen. Shenzhen Water Group designs, constructs and operates infrastructure for water supply and drainage across 20 cities in China. The utility firm is aiming to deploy 580,000 smart water meters in the next 5 years and renovation of 2.2 million water meters in Shenzhen.

In Spain, water metering firm Aguas de Valencia, Huawei, Vodafone and U-blox conducted a trial on smart meters utilizing NB-IoT enabled modules from Swiss firm u-blox, and utilizing 900 MHz spectrum. Vodafone and Huawei conducted software upgrades of six base stations to support the NB-IoT trial. 

Smart Meter & Demand Response

COMMENTARY


Smart meters enable residential and enterprise consumers to monitor energy usage on a real-time basis and optimize energy consumption. Leveraging data collected from smart meters, utility firms enjoy labor savings since smart meters promote automation which reduces manpower (eliminates the need for an employee to visit homes to read utility meters)and boosts revenue collection (from more accurate billing and reduced labor cost, etc.).

Per Shenzhen Water Group, smart meters promote operational efficiencies, including reduced OPEX compared with legacy meters (cost savings of 40 million CNY per year), early detection and repair of water leakages (legacy meters have 12.7% incidence rate per year or cost savings of 120 million CNY per year), and accurate billing (legacy meters have 2% incidence rate of inaccurate meter reading per year or cost savings of 21 million CNY per year).

Additionally, with the integration of smart home energy management systems into the demand-response programs, utility firms can better forecast home energy consumption, boost demand-response management to mitigate disruptions on energy supply during peak hours, encourage consumer engagement,  and ensure the energy grid has sustainable electricity to meet rising energy demand (driven by rising demand for electric vehicles (EV) and EV charging stations, mandates to reducecarbon footprint, etc.).

Demand response enables consumers to reduce or shift their energy usage during peak hours in response to the price of electricity or incentives offered by the government. To illustrate this, consumers can shift their laundry time to non-peak hours (e.g. lunch time, afternoon, etc.) when the electricity rate is lower compared with peak hours. The same principle applies to charging EVs.