According to Machina Research, the number of global loT connections will reach 27 billion by 2025. Among them, the total size of cellular loT connections is expected to exceed 5 billion. Technologically, as the world is moving towards the 5G era, and 4G has become the mainstream mobile communication system, shortcomings of 2G/ 3G become increasingly obvious either regarding spectrum allocation efficiency, wireless performance, or operation and maintenance costs. The worldwide 2G/3G sunset is in progress with many countries giving their own timelines based on their needs for telecommunications networks.

The retirement of 2G/ 3G requires mature alternative technologies to meet the development needs of low and mid-speed loT applications (within lOMbps on the downlink and 5Mbps uplink) that account for 90% of the overall cellular loT connections. Among them, L TE Cat 1 is the preferred alternative option for loT scenarios balancing between the consideration of both wireless performance and migration cost.