The Emerging Market Opportunity for Cat-M1 in a 3 MHz Channel for Utility Broadband Networks

As utilities and smart grid vendors continue to address the challenges of grid modernization, 3GPP LTE low power wide-area (LPWA) technologies will play a key role. While NB-IoT and Cat-M1 (also referred to LTE-M or Cat-M) are both viable alternatives for today’s utility networks, Cat-M1 is becoming increasingly important due to the ability to deliver faster data rates (as compared to NB-IoT) as well as the low latency required for smart meters, distributed automation, and other grid modernization applications. Cat-M1 is widely supported in the 5 MHz ecosystem today. Demand for Cat-M1 in-band on a 3 MHz LTE channel is accelerating driven by expanding utility applications. Interviews with Anterix Active Ecosystem members (including chipset, modem, and device vendors) and a private LTE market-sizing analysis by Harbor Research both identified a strong market opportunity for Cat-M1 in private LTE networks for utilities. This paper addresses: