​Samsung to supply KT with NB-IoT solutions

Samsung Electronics will supply its NB-IoT solutions to compatriot telco KT Corporation, the companies have announced.

NB-IoT, or Narrow Band-Internet of Things, is a standard set by 3GPP that allows IoT devices to be connected using low-power wireless technology.

Samsung will upgrade KT's radio station software and replace old radio stations. It will start building a virtual core (vCore) network for KT starting this month.

Deployment of the NB-IoT service will allow public and industrial sectors to use fire detectors, security motion sensors, monitoring hospital patients, meter reading, and railroad management more efficiently, the South Korean electronics giant said.

NB-IoT is deemed more power-efficient compared to cellular IoT, and cheaper modules offer wider coverage that allows the deployment of low data-intensive services and cheap costs.

It uses a 200KHz band, a hundredth of a conventional LTE band, and modules can theoretically last for over 10 years. Existing LTE networks will be in use that will save costs and secure coverage where LTE is already deployed.

Samsung said it has a guard band that prevents LTE and NB-IoT bands from clashing.

KT successfully demonstrated NB-IoT on an LTE band last year with Nokia. Services that use the network will be introduced sometime in the first half of this year.

Rival SK Telecom is building a LoRa-based wireless network in Thailand for railroads that will go live in April.

Both telcos rolled out their nationwide IoT network last year; SK's uses LoRa and KT's uses LTE-M.