Spark, Vodafone reveal rival IoT investments

New Zealand is set to get four competing low-cost networks for connecting ‘‘internet of things’’ (IoT) devices after telcos Vodafone and Spark announced investments on the same day.

Vodafone and Spark both said they would deploy ‘‘narrowband’’ networks early next year.

That is to prepare for an expected surge in demand to connect devices such as sensors, industrial equipment and whiteware to the internet.

The telecommunications companies will join Australian company Thinxtra and KotahiNet, which have already rolled out networks dedicated to IoT devices across most of the country.

The competition comes days after a report funded by technology companies and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment warned that Kiwi firms were holding back from IoT investments precisely because of the fear they might back the wrong network technology.

The report estimated the economy could benefit by between $1.1 billion and $3.3b over 10 years from hooking up more ‘‘things’’ to the internet. But it said customers struggled to decide which communication technologies and standards would last the distance.

Narrowband technology is the opposite of broadband technology, and is designed to carry small amounts of data long distances and at low cost.

Vodafone’s network will be based on the Narrowband-IoT standard. ‘‘It is supported by over 40 of the world’s largest mobile operators plus many more suppliers and innovators that serve the majority of the global IoT market,’’ technology director Tony Baird said.

Spark’s network will be built by state-owned enterprise Kordia and will use another global standard called LoRa. –Fairfax NZ