For IoT: Movistar Empresas launches the country's first commercial LTE-M network in Chile

By Movistar

This is an automated translation of the press release issued in Spanish

Chile, June 18, 2024.- Movistar Empresas announced the deployment of the LTE-M network in the country, which will allow organizations of various sizes to connect their Internet of Things (IoT) devices with greater efficiency energetic, since it is characterized by working at low power and long range.

In Chile, the IoT is already a reality in all productive sectors, since it enhances the pillars of connectivity that industries demand. Thus, the LTE-M network is designed for massive connections of telemetry and remote control devices, and will ensure the efficiency and technical reliability in the M2M connections that businesses require in their digital transformation.

Some use cases include fleet management, smart lighting, precision agriculture, connected meters, and various smart city applications, among others.

The LTE-M network is available to traditional M2M (Machine to Machine) connectivity customers, which allows different devices and systems to communicate and share data with each other, without direct human intervention. In addition, this new network will be complemented by the KITE managed connectivity platform, with which companies can control and monitor their connected devices in real time, remotely and from anywhere in the world.

“Movistar Empresas has numerous proprietary tools in its portfolio to connect devices and help companies digitally transform, extracting maximum value from data. The deployment of the Movistar LTE-M network is the next step in the evolution of cellular communications between M2M devices, on the path towards the massification of the IoT. The LTE-M network covers the needs of companies in different sectors, as it allows the transfer of small data packets with low latency, coverage in hard-to-reach areas, savings in device costs and longer battery life, contributing to the operational efficiency and sustainability of our clients," said Rodrigo Rivera, Marketing Manager of B2B Digital Services.

About LTE-M network and LPWAN technologies

LTE-M is a technology that is deployed over the 4G network and is primarily aimed at M2M devices, such as GPS, payment terminals and smart meters. Compared to other technologies in the LPWAN (low-power wide-area network) family such as NB-IoT, LTE-M allows similar functionalities of extended coverage and optimization of battery life (very relevant for non-powered devices), being superior in terms of maximum data transfer speed, minimum terminal reaction times and mobility (allowing data transfer to be maintained on moving devices).

In Latin America, Movistar Empresas has more than 6 million IoT connections, where 1.5 million of them are in Chile. The company has extensive experience in IoT services globally and is recognized in the industry in this area, which is why in 2023 it received recognition as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed IoT Connectivity Services for the ninth consecutive year. worldwide, positioning the company as a technological and strategic ally. Additionally, it has been recognized for the second consecutive year as a leader in global IoT connectivity managed services by IDC, in its study “IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Managed IoT Connectivity Services 2023 Vendor Assessment”.