Putting a Cat among the IoT pigeons

Spark says it’s the first company to confirm nationwide completion of a Cat-M1 network in New Zealand after completing a national rollout of its Internet of Things (IoT) cellular (Cat-M1) network using 4G.

The network covers 98% of New Zealand’s population and has been deployed on more than 96% of Spark’s mobile sites, the network designed for low cost, long battery life devices that provide real-time data to businesses so they can make smarter decisions, including for transport and intelligent transport systems (ITS).

This completed network will significantly expand the range of things that businesses across New Zealand can connect to, providing insights and control that may have not been previously possible, Spark says.

A wide variety of new and existing IoT solutions and services including electricity, gas and water meters, asset tracking and monitoring, industrial automation and more will now have a reliable IoT network to use, it says.

Spark’s first customer to use the network is Trans-Tasman smart metering service intelliHUB. This is positive news for the energy industry in New Zealand as the majority of smart meters are operating on the old 2G phone networks, intelliHUB Group chief executive officer Adrian Clark says.

“We are using Spark’s new Cat-M1 network to service our current nationwide deployment as we accelerate the installation of 150,000 smart meters to a large portion of Trustpower’s customer base.

“The other part of our strategy is to expand our service business into other IoT services, in particular the launch of smart gas metering, solar monitoring and demand response applications. It means we can give energy retailers the digital capabilities they need to innovate.”

Trustpower business solutions and technology general manager Simon Clarke says a smarter IoT communication network will be a key enabler for intelliHUB to provide better services to the trust and its customers.

Spark digital services lead and New Zealand IoT Alliance executive council member Michael Stribling says 2019 is going to be a ground-breaking year for tech.

“We’re seeing IoT take off in New Zealand, and with the broader range of solutions Cat-M1 opens we expect to soon be adding more than 2000 new IoT devices a week.”

Spark will also expand its suite of IoT services, helping enable start-ups to enterprises to solve problems they face daily.