LTE-M

{{short description|Cellular device technology}}

{{technical|date=February 2019}}

LTE-M or LTE-MTC ("Long-Term Evolution Machine Type Communication") is a type of low-power wide-area network radio communication technology standard developed by 3GPP for machine-to-machine and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.{{cite web|url=https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/us/solutions/test-and-measurement/wireless-communication/iot-m2m/lte-m/lte-m-theme_234034.html|title=LTE-M – the new GSM}}{{cite web|url=https://halberdbastion.com/technology/iot/iot-protocols/emtc-lte-cat-m1|title=eMTC (LTE Cat-M1)}} LTE-M includes eMTC ("enhanced Machine Type Communication"), also known as LTE Cat-M1, whose specification was frozen in June 2016 as part of 3GPP Release 13 (LTE Advanced Pro),{{cite web|url=http://www.3gpp.org/news-events/3gpp-news/1805-iot_r14|title=Standards for the IoT}} as well as LTE Cat-M2.{{cite web | title=What is LTE Cat-M2? | website=everything RF | date=2023-03-12 | url=https://www.everythingrf.com/community/what-is-lte-cat-m2 | access-date=2024-11-02}}

Competing 3GPP IoT technologies include NB-IoT and EC-GSM-IoT.{{cite web |url=http://www.gsma.com/connectedliving/extended-coverage-gsm-internet-of-things-ec-gsm-iot |title=Extended Coverage - GSM - Internet of Things (EC-GSM-IoT) |date=May 11, 2016 |website=gsma.com |publisher=GSMA |pages=1 |access-date=October 17, 2016 }}

The advantage of LTE-M over NB-IoT is its comparatively higher data rate, mobility, and voice over the network, but it requires more bandwidth, is more costly, and cannot be put into guard band portion of the frequency band for now.{{cite web|url=https://accent-systems.com/blog/differences-nb-iot-lte-m/|title=Differences between NB-IOT and LTE-M|date=3 May 2018 }} Compared to LTE Release 12 Cat-0 modem, an LTE-M model is claimed to be 80% less expensive (in terms of the bill of materials), support up to 18 dB better coverage, and a battery lifetime that can last up to several years.{{cite book|doi=10.1109/GLOCOM.2016.7842206|chapter=Reducing the Modem Complexity and Achieving Deep Coverage in LTE for Machine-Type Communications|title=2016 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM)|year=2016|last1=Saxena|first1=Vidit|last2=Bergman|first2=Johan|last3=Blankenship|first3=Yufei|last4=Wallen|first4=Anders|last5=Razaghi|first5=Hazhir Shokri|pages=1–7|isbn=978-1-5090-1328-9|s2cid=5206557}} In March 2019, the Global Mobile Suppliers Association reported that over 100 operators had deployed/launched either NB-IoT or LTE-M networks.{{cite web|website=GSA|url=https://gsacom.com/paper/global-narrowband-iot-lte-m-networks-march-2019/|title=Global Narrowband IoT – LTE-M networks|date=March 2019|access-date=25 March 2019}}