Airtel, Secure Meters to offer Narrow Band-IoT services

Bharti Airtel Monday said it has partnered with Secure Meters for deploying Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) services to power 1.3 million smart meters in Bihar.

This is India's first NB-IoT solution deployed on a narrow band with a fall-back option that will work on 2G and 4G for seamless real-time connectivity and transfer of critical data, the telco added in a statement. NB-IoT is a low-power, wide area, radio network technology developed by 3GPP which enables a wide variety of IoT devices and services including smart meters.

"IoT is one of the fastest-growing business segments for Airtel Business. This venture into NB-IoT strengthens our credentials as the largest cellular IoT player in the country and places us as a partner of choice for Discoms looking to invest in smart meters," said Ajay Chitkara, director and CEO, Airtel Business.