LAS VEGAS—The MWC Las Vegas 2024 trade show here again focused on the carrier’s 5G efforts, connectivity solutions and AI. However, the location industry, including connected and autonomous vehicle participation was only visible through a few product introductions and displays.
One company, Quectel Wireless Solutions, launched its BG770A-SN 5G-ready satellite communication module. The module supports LTE NB1 and NB2 bands as well as non-terrestrial networks (NTN) over narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT).
Applications include transportation, energy, maritime, heavy industry and agricultural applications. The company said that module is dual mode, supporting both NTN & TN and features GNSS for positioning.
Another company, Telit Cinterion exhibited to discuss vertical market opportunities for its NExT IoT Connectivity Starter Kit. The free cellular plan SIM testing kit allows integrators, device OEMs and IoT service providers evaluate device management, remote SIM provisioning, billing, security and other capabilities, the company said.
Market opportunities for the solution include asset tracking and telematics. The kit provides cellular-delivered insights that include location, status and other information about high-value assets, the company said. In addition, the insights include geofencing to locate stolen construction equipment or errant livestock, the company said.
While not known as an auto show, and outside of a Connected Car Summit, MWC Las Vegas had a few connected car companies including Soracom, which announced its strategy for the industry by addressing connectivity and cloud management challenges. These obstacles mirror those faced by the global IoT ecosystem, the company said.
“The connected car journey has been like a long family road trip, with the kids continually asking, ‘Are we there yet?’ The good news is we are almost there – but for connected car services to succeed, the process of enabling them needs to be simple, secure, and scalable – for automakers, for dealerships, for connectivity providers, and most of all, for consumers,” said Kenta Yasukawa, CTO and co-founder of Soracom, in a statement.
Soracom offers a software-based, globally distributed infrastructure through Amazon Web Services that provides a direct link from the connected car to the cloud through its cloud-native cellular core and an on-demand virtual private gateway, the company said. The company also says its connectivity offers access to 417 carriers across 182 countries
In other MWC Las Vegas news:
- NextNav’s NN -1.49%↓CEO Mariam Sorond and COO Sanyogita Shamsunder talked about the future of 5G technology for a terrestrial 3D PNT solution to solve critical national security and public safety challenges.
- Combain Mobile said it has expanded its Cell-ID database from 200,000 to 220,000 AI-enhanced Cell-IDs in the U.S.
- BeWhere‘s Alban Hoxha discussed smart logistics management, advanced track and other topics on a panel at the co-located Non-Terrestrial Networks Summit.
