Telekom Austria Group has become the latest operator to test and debut NB-IoT technology on its live network in Austria.
It worked with Nokia and Intel on the demonstration, details of which were showcased at Bacelona’s LPWA Europe 2016 conference this week.
A network was set up in Mönchhof in Burgenland, east Austria, with an Intel modem connected to a sensor to track temperature, air pressure and humidity. Each metric was transmitted in real time and findings were depicted on a graphic interface.
In a statement, the operator said the test was evidence the technology is ready for live network deployment. Its LTE network was adapted with only one software upgrade and it added the tests had no affect on the quality of service for customers.
Bernd Liebscher, Managing Director of Telekom Austria Group M2M said, “After many tests in a lab environment, we carried out a successful live test for the first time in the A1 LTE network in October and are absolutely on the right track with our NB-IoT strategy.
“NB-IoT offers virtually inexhaustible potential and the development of the technology in the past two years has been impressive. We are therefore all the more pleased to have been able to successfully carry out the first tests in the live network with our partners Nokia and Intel”.
Peter Wukowits, Country Senior Officer Austria and Head of Central Europe at Nokia, said: “It is at the heart of Nokia’s strategy to support the programmable world with billions of connected people, devices and things. We are innovating to allow our customers to evolve their offerings. This trial will lay the foundation for an IoT ecosystem in Austria, and allow Telekom Austria Group to exploit the massive opportunities that it brings.”
Last month, Telekon Austria Group became a member of the GSMA’s official NB-IoT Forum giving a further boost to the technology.
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Among the other operators to have recently trialled the technology are Sonera, which demonstrated NB-IoT in Helsinki earlier this month, and Deutsche Telekom, which became the first operator to hold a trial of it on its live network in October.