Telecom’s Next Battle Will Take Place in the Web’s Slow Lane
- Vodafone builds cheaper, narrowband network to tackle IoT
- Linking devices is less expensive, but will demand be there?
After decades spent developing ever-faster networks that can do everything from stream Beyonce videos to steer driverless cars, the telecom industry has found a new battleground: slower, narrowband systems.
Vodafone Group Plc is building a wireless network that’s cheap and robust enough to link items like garbage cans or garden soil sensors to the internet, so refuse companies will know when to send the truck and the roses get just the right amount of water.
The system, in Madrid, is the vanguard of what will eventually be a global Vodafone narrowband network for the so-called internet-of-things -- millions, perhaps billions, of connected devices designed to save businesses money and time, and free consumers from mundane tasks. The new grid is cheaper to run than than regular mobile and WiFi networks because it uses less power. It’s designed for gadgets like gas meters or traffic-light signals that check in sporadically, rather than driverless cars or heart monitors, which speak continuously to the net.