News
Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest operator, has chosen Ericsson to deploy a narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) system so it can trial IoT devices and applications in its laboratory.
The end-to-end NB-IoT system will comprise a range of Ericsson offerings including the Ericsson Radio System, Massive IoT radio access network (RAN) software, virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC), virtual Subscriber Data Management (vSDM), and the IoT Smart Device and Application service on the company’s AppIoT platform. The vendor, which is looking to sell its media unit, has successfully interoperability tested its NB-IoT technology with Vodafone.
The vEPC is deployed as a dedicated IoT Packet Core, using network slicing functionality, enabling Chunghwa Telecom to explore machine type communications use cases and rapidly bring new services to market. Some other operators are already in commercial deployment of NB-IoT.
Chen Shyang-Yih, the executive vice president of Chunghwa Telecom and president of its Telecommunication Laboratories, said: “NB-IoT technology is one of our primary focuses in 2017, and we are keen to explore more opportunities based on the new technology.”
Håkan Cervell, the president of Ericsson Taiwan, added: “This agreement represents a real milestone for both companies, and shows that we have made rapid progress since signing a 5G memorandum of understanding during Mobile World Congress 2017. Together we will identify 5G use cases and applications for the digital transformation of industry verticals such as transportation and utilities.”
