Ericsson and KDDI team up to enable cellular IoT

• Ericsson and KDDI together verify cellular low power wide area (LPWA) technologies
• Verification based on Ericsson's network equipment, which supports both Cat-M1 and NB-IoT
• Ericsson's LTE base stations, including those in KDDI's network, can support cellular LPWA through Ericsson's new software product, Massive IoT RAN

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and leading Japanese operator KDDI today announced the successful joint verification of cellular low power wide area (LPWA) technologies, specifically Cat-M1 and narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT). The two companies will continue to study possible use cases enabled by LPWA technologies.

Ericsson's LTE base stations, including those in KDDI's network, can support cellular LPWA through Ericsson's new software product, Massive IoT RAN. This gives KDDI the possibility to deploy a comprehensive range of IoT applications quickly and flexibly. 

Yoshiaki Uchida, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Technology Sector and Member of the Board, KDDI, says: "KDDI focuses on providing the best network to respond to customers' requests, meet their expectations and become ready for the IoT market, which is expected to grow. We will pursue the possibilities of new technologies through cooperation with Ericsson."

Chris Houghton, Head of Region North East Asia, Ericsson, says: "The Internet of Things is a rapidly growing segment. By 2021 there will be 28 billion connected devices - of which 16 billion will be count as IoT connected devices. IoT applications will drive 5G development, so it is essential for us to work proactively with leading operators like KDDI to spearhead the IoT industry and ecosystem."

Ericsson and KDDI verified cellular LPWA technologies based on 3GPP release 13 by using Ericsson's network equipment, which supports both Cat-M1 and NB-IoT.

NOTES TO EDITORS

LTE networks provide the ideal platform for the acceleration of high-capacity, low-latency IoT applications that benefit consumers, industries and cities. Ericsson's Massive IoT RAN solution will scale LTE networks to connect a wider variety of IoT use cases by supporting the LPWA connectivity requirements of low power, low cost, long battery life and reduced complexity for devices.

Ericsson offers a complete cellular LPWA solution, along with end-to-end solutions for IoT analytics, device management and global service support. Ericsson also works with key IoT partners to ensure a broad and robust IoT module and device ecosystem.

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