Billions to be spent
Since China makes so much of the world's electronics, such as sensors, microchips and other electronic devices, it will form the backbone of the expanding IoT technology market. Market research firm IDC predicted that Chinese manufacturing spending on the IoT will reach $127.5 billion by 2020, with an average growth rate of 14.7 percent.
"Around 28 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2021 globally, among which 16 billion are related to the IoT. The technology is set to transform public infrastructure such as power grids, railways and ports, by making them interconnected and smart," Luo said.
The smart parking solution in Shanghai is one of the typical application scenarios of IoT. It is enabled by the narrow-band IoT technology, which can connect billions of low-power devices such as smart meters, which transmit small amounts of bandwidth and may need to be deployed for many years without interference.
"Narrow band IoT is the latest IoT battlefield that global telecom carriers are scrambling for so they can establish a beachhead," said Xiang Ligang, chief executive of telecom industry website Cctime.
"It can connect the internet of hidden things, such as water and gas meters that often lie in basements, deeply shadowed areas and even underground pipes, making large-scale connection really possible. China is leading global efforts in commercializing the technology."
In a report published in May, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology encouraged narrow band IoT's commercial use in industrial internet and urban public service and management. It also supports smart factories and the internet of vehicles.
China Telecommunications Corp, the country's third-largest telecom carrier by mobile subscriber base, said in May it had established a commercial narrow band IoT network with the widest coverage in the world. The company has upgraded 310,000 telecom base stations nationwide to support narrow band IoT connectivity.
Water meters the start
Li Shengfei, general manager of China Telecom's Shenzhen branch, said the company delivered the world's first commercial narrow band IoT-based Smart Water metering project in March by partnering with Huawei and Shenzhen Water, the local water utility provider.
About 1,200 narrow band IoT-enabled smart water meters have been deployed for Southern Pearl Garden and other residential areas in the Yantian District of Shenzhen. With a chipset inside, these smart water meters can intelligently read and upload data to Shenzhen Water's online platform.
Liu Chang, a resident in Southern Pearl Garden, said the smart water avoids the service charge loss caused by false or missing meter reading and water loss from pipeline leakage. "I don't have to wait at home for meter readers coming every month," she said.
The project can also help water utility providers analyze water usage patterns of different consumer groups to build up or reconstruct the water pipe network in a more reasonable arrangement for convenient and reliable consumer water services.
Rival China Mobile Communications Corp, the country's largest telecom carrier by subscribers, is catching up. It unveiled the world's smallest embedded SIM narrow band IoT module. The M5310, as the module is called, was independently developed by China Mobile. It is highly power-efficient and can save more than 30 percent of the space of its nearest rival.
The carrier, having started field tests on narrow band IoT in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Fuzhou, is set to launch a large-scale field test later and commercialize narrow band IoT by 2018.
Nearly 100 companies are developing products based on the module to bring market innovation through narrow band IoT services, such as smart agriculture, smart parking, air quality monitoring and asset management applications, according to China Mobile.
