BT's Division X announced a £20m investment in a narrowband IoT network at MWC 2024, transforming industries like smart cities and agriculture, paving the way for futuristic urban settings.

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024, BT's Division X announced a multi-million-pound investment in a narrowband Internet of Things (NB IoT) network, marking a significant leap in their technology offerings. This action is expected to completely transform the IoT environment in several industries, ushering in a new era of smart cities and sophisticated agriculture. Division X's managing director, Chris Keone, provided views on how this technology paves the way for futuristic urban settings and significant changes in the industry.

The NB IoT network, which was just established, is intended to enable connections and automation that were previously impossible because they required manual control, hence facilitating widespread IoT deployment. This breakthrough is anticipated to hasten the creation of smart cities by improving energy distribution and management through careful observation.

Keone described how the NB IoT network was strategically deployed throughout the United Kingdom, taking advantage of the EE network's wide coverage to reach 97% of the population. With this effort, BT has made a big step from its exploratory stages to offering a real solution that meets current and future customer needs. Focusing on fixed applications like utilities and urban infrastructure, the technology is also investigating additional IoT capabilities to meet dynamic needs like autonomous vehicles.