The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) announced that 140 operators have deployed NB-IoT networks in 64 countries. In addition, the association’s research counts 744 devices supporting either Cat M1, Cat NB1 (NB-IoT) or Cat NB2, 44 percent more than were in the GAMBoD database at the end of April 2021.  The “NB-IoT & LTE-M Summary February 2022 – Global Ecosystem” report not only highlights the steady growth of live NB-IoT networks throughout the last year but also reveals a strong interest in NB-IoT networks with 166 operators identified as investing. 

The association also counts 74 operators actively investing in LTE-M technology, of which: 55 have deployed or commercially launched LTE-M networks. This latest GSA report also contains an update on NB-IoT devices, with data revealing that there are now 744 devices supporting either Cat M1, Cat NB1 (NB-IoT) or Cat NB2, 44 percent more than were in the GAMBoD database at the end of April 2021. Among which, the association counts 479 devices support Cat NB1 (including known variants), up from 362 in nine months. Regarding Cat NB2, the GSA identified 116 device models supporting it, up from 71 models nine months ago.

“We have been carefully tracking the evolution of NB-IoT networks over the past year and the market growth is highly encouraging. We now count 140 operators that have deployed/launched NB-IoT or LTE-M networks in 64 countries, with 166 operators also investing in the technology, illustrating the traction that these networks are gaining,” said Joe Barrett, President of GSA. “This momentum is also translated in the number of available devices which are now close to 750 and we are looking forward to seeing how these networks and devices will be used for a range of innovative and interesting use cases.”