IoT in telecom: use cases, examples & technologies
November 21, 2023
IoT in telecom can increase control over telecom assets, reduce operational costs, enhance power efficiency, and provide new services for customers. The technology works through interconnected sensors and devices that monitor, collect, exchange, and analyze data over a network.
Itransition is an experienced provider of value-adding IoT solutions for various business domains, including telecom. Our expertise in IoT-specific programming and network engineering, coupled with a deep understanding of data analytics systems, allows telecom companies to substantially improve their network performance and create new revenue streams.
The market of telecom IoT today and beyond
A provider of telephony, mobile networks, TV, and internet connection, telecommunications has always been an essential and lucrative industry. As more companies embrace the Internet of Things, its impact on the telecom market is expected to continue to grow in the coming years.
$11 bn
in revenue with cellular IoT connectivity services in 2022
Global Cellular IoT Connectivity Tracker & Forecast
31.8%
CAGR of the global IoT telecom services market size from 2018 to 2028
KBV Research
Top IoT use cases in telecom
The rollout of 5G has catalyzed the new, potentially large wave of IoT transformation across industries. This drive presents telcos with a wellspring of opportunities to increase their profits, extend their B2B service offer, and forge mutually beneficial partnerships with leading enterprises from across industries. Let’s explore top IoT use cases in telecom:
The manufacturing sector is one of the leading users of the Industrial Internet of Things. Telecom companies can offer advanced industrial monitoring solutions for measuring and tracking data from production equipment, providing manufacturers with reliable insights to optimize their processes. From predictive maintenance to remote equipment management to fleet management, telecoms can provide a comprehensive array of services to help manufacturing companies decrease costs and enhance production efficiency.
Benefit
Improved operational efficiency and reduced downtime for manufacturing companies.
Smart cities
As the world's population continues to urbanize, telecom companies can provide a broad range of solutions for smart cities. Solving public transportation issues, streamlining energy management, or enhancing public security - telecom-specific IoT solutions can help cities become safer and more efficient.
Benefit
Improved quality of life and cost savings.
Smart homes
The number of connected devices in households has been continuously expanding since 2015. Conventionally, establishing an IoT-based home network has been the homeowners’ responsibility. In recent years, however, telecommunication companies have taken the opportunity to provide end-to-end smart home solutions by joining forces with hardware companies. Some notable examples in this sector include Verizon's partnership with Honeywell and Deutsche Telekom's collaboration with Philips and Sonos.
Benefit
Increased comfort for customers and loyalty for telecom companies.
Connected cars
At this point, autonomous driving is no longer a gimmick but a viable technology. However, to achieve genuine autonomy, cars must rely on a robust telecommunications infrastructure to exchange data with each other and the environment. With the help of 5G, IoT, and complementary technologies, telecom companies can become the key enabler of connected cars. For example, China Telecom Global and STC Group have just recently joined forces to collaborate on an IoT-connected car project to accelerate the adoption of connected cars.
Benefit
Improved driving experience for customers, enhanced customer satisfaction for vehicle manufacturers, and increased revenue for telecom companies.
eSIM/ISIM adoption
Telecom companies can also use IoT to enable the adoption of eSIM (embedded SIM) or ISIM (integrated SIM) technologies. These technologies eliminate the need for physical SIM cards, allowing CSPs to streamline device activation. What’s more, with the help of eSIM or ISIM, customers can easily switch between both service providers and devices without changing SIM cards.
Benefit
Simplified device management for telecom companies and improved user experience for customers.
3GPP-based satellite connectivity
Telecom companies can explore 3GPP-based satellite connectivity to extend coverage and enable connectivity in remote or underserved areas. By integrating satellite communication technology into their networks, telecom companies can provide high-quality and ubiquitous connectivity to IoT devices in challenging environments, such as rural areas, maritime, or aviation.
Benefit
Extended coverage, improved connectivity in remote areas, and enhanced IoT device accessibility.
Fleet management
Communication service providers can offer IoT-enabled fleet management solutions to transportation and logistics companies. By equipping vehicles with IoT devices and leveraging connectivity, telecom businesses can provide real-time vehicle tracking, optimize routes, monitor fuel consumption, and enable preventive maintenance with the help of predictive models. This improves operational efficiency, enhances driver safety, and reduces overall fleet management costs.
Benefit
Enhanced fleet visibility, optimized operations, and cost savings for transportation companies.
Cardless virtualized networks
Before the advent of IoT, telecom companies used external custom accelerator cards specifically designed for their virtualized networks. IoT allows for the integration of vRAN accelerators directly into the processors, eliminating the need for separate custom accelerator cards. Essentially, this allows telecom businesses to achieve the same processing power in their vRANs with less hardware, leading to tangible cost savings and simplified hardware designs.
Benefit
Reduced total cost of ownership of vRANs for CSPs.
Adopt IoT and join the telecom leaders with Itransition’s guidance
Examples of IoT in telecom
Manufacturing, healthcare, automotive, and smart home are the four sectors with the highest number of addressable market opportunities for IoT development, and some telecom operators are already striking first partnerships with large-scale enterprises from these industries, while others are tapping into these developments on their own. Below, we investigate notable telco-facilitated IoT implementations:
Deutsche Telekom & BMW
Deutsche Telekom has been involved in BMW's connected car journey since 2015, and their collaboration has resulted in various innovative solutions for car drivers and travelers. Deutsche Telekom's role in the partnership includes providing the Wi-Fi Hotspot within BMW ConnectedDrive vehicles, allowing up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices to connect to high-speed internet throughout Europe.
Additionally, Deutsche Telekom fits BMW ConnectedDrive cars with LTE technology through embedded eSIMs, which can be remotely updated via over-the-air (OTA) functionality. The solution enables seamless connectivity and ensures that the vehicles stay up-to-date with the latest features and services. The companies are currently exploring the possibility of remote driving or valet parking.
Samsung, KT Corporation, and AT&T
Asian telecom operators currently prove the frontrunners of smart factory research and development. In South Korea, Samsung partnered with KT Corporation, a major telecom provider, to deploy an end-to-end 5G network that supplies ultra-low latency communication and real-time downtime and defects detection, along with work-from-anywhere capabilities. Following the technology’s success, Samsung implemented it at their Austin (TX) manufacturing facility with help from AT&T.
Chicago Rush University Medical Center and AT&T
US telecom operator AT&T went on to create “the hospital of the future” based at the Chicago Rush University Medical Center. As a result of the network upgrade, Rush Hospital has become an environment where everything, from medicine cabinets to beds to MRIs, is interconnected, trackable, and manageable. Powered by AT&T’s 5G and Multi-Access Edge Computing service, Rush can also manage cellular traffic over local and wide area networks, delivering medical care anywhere, even over long distances, without delays.
USPACE & Chunghwa Telecom
The partnership between Chunghwa Telecom and USPACE has resulted in the development of a smart parking solution in Taipei utilizing narrowband IoT technology. Intending to address the city's limited parking resources and growing demand, Chunghwa Telecom has created an NB-IoT-powered smart lock that can be remotely controlled to prevent unauthorized parking.
Drivers using the USPACE app can view the location and availability of parking spaces and pay for their selection. Once the payment is made, the smart lock is lowered via its NB-IoT connection, allowing the driver to park. Besides decreasing traffic congestion and driver frustration, the real-time data provided by the NB-IoT network, combined with advanced big data analysis, enables better service optimization and the ability to identify user behavior patterns and adjust parking rates accordingly.
Verizon & Cognizant
Verizon, one of the biggest telecom industry players, came up with its own IoT hardware product called Critical Asset Sensor. The solution is a multi-sensor device with Verizon 4G LTE-M M2M connectivity and API access that can track a multitude of an asset’s parameters, including temperature, humidity, vibration, tilt, and pressure.
Cognizant, one of the largest enterprise builders, leveraged Verizon’s Critical Asset Sensor solution to tackle common challenges of the food and pharmaceutical industries. As a result of the partnership, Cognizant enhanced good’s traceability, reduced product loss, and improved product safety.
IoT solution architecture for telecom
Sensors
Sensors form the first layer of the telecom IoT solution stack and are responsible for collecting data from the environment. These sensors can be embedded within various devices such as vehicles, equipment, and machines and collect data such as temperature, pressure, light intensity, vibration, voltage, radiation, or water flow rate.
Data acquisition system (DAS)
DAS systems collect raw data from sensors and actuators and convert it to digital format before sending it through an internet gateway. Essentially, the DAS acts as a data translator, allowing devices to communicate with one another.
Network infrastructure
This component comprises communication IoT protocols and technologies used to transmit data, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular networks like 5G, and low-power networks like NB-IoT. The connectivity protocol choice largely depends on the nature of the data, the distance between nodes, and the budget.
Cloud platform
The cloud platform is the centerpiece of any IoT architecture. It is responsible for storing big data, running analytics algorithms for insight generation, data visualization, and remote management of connected devices. The cloud platform is also instrumental for integration with third-party services via APIs.
Edge devices
Edge devices are typically small computing devices deployed at or near the edge of the network, in close proximity to sensors and actuators. They act as intermediaries between the sensors and cloud services. By processing data at the edge, only relevant information is transmitted to the cloud, reducing the volume of transmitted data and alleviating network congestion.
Actuators
Actuators are used to control the environment by receiving commands from the cloud and acting accordingly. Common examples of actuators include motors, valves, locks, or robot arms.
Best IoT cloud platforms we use
We harness the power of industry-leading cloud services to deploy robust backend solutions for IoT applications, ensuring seamless connectivity, efficient data management, and advanced data analysis.
Amazon Web Services IoT platform empowers the telecom industry to securely connect, manage, and analyze an extensive network of devices and data streams.
Data services
- AWS IoT Events for event monitoring
- AWS IoT Analytics for data analysis
- AWS IoT FleetWise to process vehicle data
- AWS IoT SiteWise to process facility data
- AWS IoT Twin Maker for building digital twins
Control services
- AWS IoT Core for connecting IoT devices
- AWS IoT Device Advisor for device validation
- AWS IoT Device Defender for data security
- AWS IoT Device Management to control IoT devices
Device services
- AWS IoT Device SDK to connect devices to AWS
- AWS IoT ExpressLink to maintain hardware modules
- AWS IoT Device Tester for automated testing
- AWS IoT Greengrass to manage edge devices
Microsoft provides a robust IoT solution that helps communication service providers deploy, manage and secure IoT applications with the help of cloud and edge computing.
- Azure IoT Central for accelerating IoT development
- Azure Digital Twins for IoT modeling
- Azure Time Series Insights for data analysis
- Azure RTOS for establishing IoT connectivity
- Azure SQL Edge to enable IoT and IoT Edge deployments
- Azure IoT Edge to offload AI and analytics workloads to the edge
- Azure Sphere for connecting MCU-powered devices
- Azure IoT Hub for secure device management
IoT implementation: 3-step guide
Embarking on the IoT implementation journey is an ambitious yet crucial initiative for any telecom company. Here is our step-by-step guide for IoT adoption:
1
Expand network connectivity
The first step is to level up your infrastructure and invest in technologies that support fast and secure communication of IoT devices. This includes rolling out 5G networks and low-power networks like narrowband IoT. Essentially, it's paramount to ensure that the network can handle the increased traffic and provide consistent connectivity.
2
Develop an effective ecosystem
The telecom industry is currently undergoing a massive shift with the use of IoT. To succeed in this new realm, it's crucial to establish fruitful partnerships within the ecosystem. Start by detecting experienced IoT service providers, hardware manufacturers, and software application developers.
3
Forge strategic partnerships with industry verticals
Identify the potential use cases you can provide to the industry verticals you are servicing. Whether it's healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, or smart cities, engage with these verticals to understand their specific pain points and challenges. This will help you develop an effective go-to-market strategy for your IoT-based telecom solutions.
IoT adoption challenges & solutions
Challenge/inefficiency
Solution
Privacy & security issues
Most IoT data is stored in the cloud, and some of the data that resides on the actual devices can be hacked via the network.
Implement robust encryption and authentication protocols to ensure data privacy.
Interoperability
IoT devices from different vendors often have incompatible communication protocols, complicating IoT network orchestration.
Collaborate with key industry players to establish common standards and ensure consistency across operating systems, cloud-based services, and technologies.
Infrastructure & scalability
In the telecom sector, IoT is still a novelty, meaning that most organizations don’t have the necessary infrastructure to support IoT adoption.
Invest in a scalable cloud infrastructure for maximum flexibility, as well as develop an agile computing platform.
Technologies to pair with IoT in telecom
Successful implementation of telecom IoT requires more than just connected devices. Here are technologies that can open new opportunities for CSPs when coupled with IoT:
Machine learning
A sub-branch of artificial intelligence, machine learning will inevitably become an integral part of IoT in telecom. Its ability to analyze large amounts of data in real-time can facilitate network optimization, predictive maintenance, and overall automation.
Computer vision
Computer vision can be used to analyze images captured by IoT sensors. Whether it's detecting security threats, automating inventory management, or inspecting physical assets, computer vision adds an extra layer of intelligence to IoT systems.
Blockchain
Blockchain provides new opportunities for CSPs to enable decentralized storage for IoT data and ensure its immutability. Blockchain can also play a key role in realizing the full potential of 5G by establishing a single source of truth across the network.
IoT is about to change the industry
For the majority of telecommunication companies, IoT is still uncharted territory and a departure from the traditional business model. Nevertheless, the existing network equipment, telecom software, and experienced staff give companies an inherent advantage to transform from “dump-pipe” operators to IoT champions, providing vertical-specific connectivity solutions.
However, getting a competitive advantage in Industry 4.0 calls for a software development partner that can capitalize on your unique position in the market and utilize the latest advancements in technologies. This is where Itransition comes in. Our team has technical and industry-specific expertise to help you build a software solution that meets and exceeds your expectations.
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FAQ
What is the impact of IoT on 5G?
The combination of higher bandwidth and lower latency provided by 5G means that IoT networks can support significantly more connected devices, facilitate faster data exchange, and become more reliable.
How does IoT affect the telecom industry?
IoT allows telecom providers to depart from their traditional offerings and create new revenue streams by leveraging their existing network infrastructures and capitalizing on large amounts of data collected from connected devices.
What are the examples of IoT in telecom?
Examples of IoT in telecom include smart home systems, fleet management platforms, industrial automation solutions, and smart city applications.
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