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As debate rages in the country over state-run Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) excluding the 5G-ready connectivity technology for installing crores of new smart electricity meters, experts said on Tuesday that the roll out of Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) connectivity technology is now being widely adopted by both enterprises and consumers globally.

After A backlash, PGCIL has delayed the last date of its tender to install one crore smart electricity meters -- that pushes for dated, obsolete second generation (2G) and RF mesh frequency -- from August 30 to September 9.

Industry experts said that with the number of active NB-IoT connections now rising into the millions, economies of scale are increasing, creating a virtuous circle that will drive wider deployments.

Since NB-IoT as a technology has evolved over the years, all leading manufacturers in India have integrated with NB-IoT technology and have launched NB-IoT enabled meters.

For example, JioThings Smart Electricity Metering solution, India's first and revolutionary NB-IoT enabled smart metering solution, offers a comprehensive suite of solutions for enabling Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Automatic Meter Reading (AMR).

It has pan-India NB-IoT connectivity, covering 95 per cent of the population. Jio also offers MeitY certified Jio Cloud Services for hosting the smart metering applications and a scalable meter data collection using Head End System (HES) integrated with leading Meter Data Management Systems (MDMS).

According to experts, an integral part of operators' 5G IoT proposition, NB-IoT is fully future-proof. For applications with low bandwidth requirements, NB-IoT is the most cost-effective way to monitor large numbers of assets and support related service propositions.

Over 30 million meters have been installed till data on NB-IoT. The results are promising and with up to 99 per cent accurate meter data collection.

"NB-IoT will remain popular in parts of Asia, including China, and Europe, while 4G Cat-1-based modules proliferate over the next few years," according to Counterpoint's senior research analyst Soumen Mandal.

Globally, 5G shipments are set to overtake 4G by 2028 to become the leading technology in the global cellular IoT module market and smart meter, industrial, router/CPE, automotive and POS will be the top five applications in 2030 in terms of shipments.

NB-IoT provides enduring cellular technology in 4G as well as 5G deployments and is better for use in high-rises, basements and rural installations of machine-to-machine applications.