Cellular IoT network access technologies: assessment of characteristics

This report evaluates the various cellular network access technologies used for IoT. It provides an overview of each, as well as use cases and regional deployment differences.

We rate each access technology on key performance metrics: latency, throughput, battery life, network support, device ecosystem maturity, applicability to a range of IoT use cases and pricing.

Questions answered in this report

• What are the use cases for each IoT network access technology?
• How does the regional take-up vary for each IoT network access technology?
• What are the timelines for the adoption or decommissioning of each IoT network access technology?
• What are the implications and considerations for mobile network operators (MNOs) managing these network access technologies?

Network technologies assessed

• 2G/3G
• LTE-Cat-1
• LTE-Cat-1-bis
• LTE-Cat-4/6
• LTE-M
• NB-IoT
• 5G New Radio (NR)
• 5G RedCap
• 5G eRedCap