Hong Kong, September 28th, 2017 - China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited (CMHK) today held the first commercial NB-IoT network demo event in Hong Kong, where government officials, members of Legislative Council, professional representatives, key partners in the industry and journalists were cordially invited to witness a new IoT milestone in Hong Kong. The first smart parking service carried by CMHK NB-IoT commercial network technology was unveiled in the event. CMHK’s NB-IoT technology through other on-site demonstrations illustrated the comprehensive eco-system, as enhanced and integrated in areas of chipset, terminal, network, platform and application. Various well-known IoT vendors jointly presented the major application scenarios in Hong Kong, including utilities, wearables, transportation and logistics, home and architecture, and other vertical industries.
Robust IoT architecture drives smart industry development
“In recent years, Hong Kong is committed to smart city vision and relevant developments in the industries,” said Mr. Sean Lee, Director and Chief Executive Officer of CMHK. “However, robust network infrastructure, related technologies and services are required to leap forward and enter the true IoT era of intelligent industries. Therefore, CMHK has announced the first commercial NB-IoT network service in Hong Kong on September 15th, which features key technological advantages including wider coverage, lower cost, safer network, lower power consumption and massive connection. Moreover, thanks to extensive experiences from our parent company in China and close partnerships in the industry chain from device, platform, to application, CMHK now offers an all-inclusive NB-IoT network solution to local smart industry developers. It will effectively support our customers to capture opportunities in the smart industry development and contribute to a smarter Hong Kong.”
NB-IoT Five features within four application scenarios in the first deployment activated by CMHK NB-IoT
Compared to other networking technologies in the market, NB-IoT is more advanced with wider coverage, lower cost, higher security, lower power and more massive connectivity:
- Low Power: Energy-saving technologies, including eDRX and PSM, extend battery life up to 10 years.
- Wide Coverage: Strong penetration and longer transmission expand coverage by 20dB, compared to GPRS.
- Massive Connectivity: Each area can support up to 100,000 connectivity nodes.
- Low Cost: Easy maintenance and management with distributed networks and lower end module cost.
- High Security: Operator-level network security.
CMHK also exhibited its NB-IoT service coverage at the show and how it fully connected the industry chain, including device, network, platform and application. The event also demonstrated multiple smart lifestyle total solutions powered by NB-IoT:
- Utilities: Smart street lighting, smart well-cover, smart water meter, smart gas meter, smart firefighting system and smart disaster management system.
- Transportation & Logistics: Smart parking, smart bus stop and smart bike lock.
- Home & Architecture: Various smart applications in home scenario, including smart sleep monitoring system, smart fan, smart toaster, smart humidifier, smart air purifier, and smart door locks, as well as CMHK smart home system, including body sensor, smart socket, wireless switch, smart window sensor and U eye surveillance system.
- Smart Wearables: Child wristwatch and child spectacles.
The show also introduced the first smart parking deployment with CMHK NB-IoT commercial network technology. The smartphone application offers instant car locator and real-time parking lot availability service and it is expected to offer reservation and navigation service to users in the future. It also collects big data for parking lot managers to enhance use rates and other efficiency objectives.
Continue to lead in mobile network innovations and enable a smarter Hong Kong
CMHK maintains pioneering leadership in mobile network innovations in Hong Kong with advanced technologies. After 4.5G network deployment since last November, CMHK has achieved multiple outstanding breakthroughs throughout 2017. In February, CMHK became the first operator successfully migrated services to an NFV-based cloud core network for commercial use, leading telecoms industry to activate cloud era in Hong Kong with new cloud core network. In response to exploding demands for mobile networks, CMHK has deployed three leading 4.5G technologies including 2CC CA, 4X4 MIMO and 256 QAM, to achieve peak throughput to 580+ Mbps, increased 3.9-times when compared to using 20 MHz single carrier bandwidth, which further optimized user experiences with high-speed, smooth and stable mobile communication. In August, CMHK became world’s first operator to launch commercial 2.3 GHz TDD Massive MIMO technology to improve network capacity and coverage in densely-populated areas.
In the coming five years, CMHK will focus on 5G network service implementation and premium user experiences. The launch of NB-IoT network now serves as a major milestone on the way toward IoT and 5G-enabled environment. It will offer diversified, high-speed and low-latency mobile network experiences, and coordinates with NB-IoT technology, to encourage IoT adoptions in Hong Kong, laying a solid foundation to 5G networks in future.
- 580+Mbps peak throughput is the network specification of China Mobile Hong Kong 4.5G network, and is applicable to designated mobile device model and network coverage only. Speed performance will be affected by many factors, including but not limited to coverage, user device and location, network configuration and traffic conditions.
- The comparison between 20 MHz FDD + 10 MHz FDD 2CC CA, 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM and 20 MHz FDD single frequency network, requires designated handset models and suitable network coverage.