Qualcomm Launches Single-mode Nb2 Chipset, Helping to Expand NB IOT Market Coverage

On April 16, Qualcomm announced the launch of Qualcomm, a single-mode Nb2 (NB IOT) chipset ® 212 LTE IOT modem, causing hot debate in the industry.

This is the third low-power wide area network (lpwan) product launched by Qualcomm. The introduction of this single-mode chip by Qualcomm has an obvious wind vane effect to a certain extent and plays a significant positive role in further promoting the growth of the whole industrial ecology of Nb IOT. We might as well analyze it from three aspects.

High end medium and low end combination to expand NB IOT market coverage

Reviewing the history of Qualcomm NB IOT products, it is obvious that Qualcomm is paying more and more attention to the Nb IOT market. As an influential chip giant in the world, Qualcomm's own actions have a certain reference for the market direction.

As early as October 2015, Qualcomm launched two chips, mdm9207-1 and mdm9206, which were introduced to the market in 2016. Mdm9206 is a multi-mode chip based on Nb IOT / EMTC / 2G, which has become the mainstream product of Qualcomm lpwan in the early stage of Nb IOT development.

By the end of 2018, Qualcomm had released a new generation of low-power wide area Internet of things modem mdm9205. Compared with mdm9206, the power consumption of this product was reduced by 70%, the size was only half, and the function was upgraded to support 3GPP R14 version specification. However, what remains unchanged is that this chip is still a multi-mode product of Nb IOT / EMTC / 2G.

An obvious feature of Qualcomm's above two lpwan products is the high degree of integration, such as the integration of arm cortex A7 processor, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and Galileo global positioning system, volte support, etc. This feature ensures the high performance of modules and terminals, and forms good support for high-end and complex scenes.

However, with the accelerated development of domestic NB IOT, most scenarios and users of Nb IOT are more and more sensitive to cost. Over the past three years, the cost of Nb IOT module has also experienced a continuous decline from 100 yuan to about 15 yuan, forcing the chip cost to decline. Although multi-mode chips can ensure high performance, they can not meet the broader needs of the massive medium and low-end market, which makes Qualcomm gain less in the Nb IOT field in recent years.

Although the price of Qualcomm's single-mode NB IOT chip has not been disclosed, it can be seen that compared with the first two products, many functions have been cut and simplified. It can be expected that the product is aimed at cost performance. Qualcomm also uses the description of "low cost" in its official press release.

If Qualcomm changes its high-end line and starts to consider cost performance, the high-end medium and low-end product portfolio will further expand the coverage of Qualcomm's Internet of things market. For Qualcomm, which has always been cautious in launching new products, it has more widely covered the medium and low-end market, which largely shows that Qualcomm continues to be firmly optimistic about the global NB IOT large connection market.

Give play to the role of industrial transmission and boost NB IOT industrial ecology

The impact of Qualcomm's new product launch on Nb IOT is also reflected in its industrial transmission role. Due to Qualcomm's position in the field of mobile communications, it has a great influence on module manufacturers, which is directly transmitted to the industry ecology through modules. This conduction also plays a significant role in the ecological development of overseas NB IOT.

According to GSMA data, by the end of January 2020, 93 NB IOT networks in the world had been officially commercialized, and the overseas market also brought a lot of opportunities to domestic NB IOT ecological partners. At the 5g NB IOT "100 million" journey Industry Summit held recently, it was revealed that many countries such as Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Australia, South Korea, Japan and Brazil have large-scale commercial NB IOT business.

Although the commercial speed of overseas NB IOT is slower than that in China, some overseas mainstream operators are also actively creating conditions for the implementation of Nb IOT applications through various ways. For example, in October last year, Vodafone announced to cooperate with at & T in NB IOT different network roaming. The two sides can use NB IOT networks in the United States, Spain, Germany, Italy, Britain and the Netherlands. Vodafone also plans to expand NB IOT different network roaming to cooperation with 40 operators in 2020. Recently, Deutsche Telekom also announced that it has reached NB IOT different network roaming agreement with Swiss Telecom, telia and Vodafone, aiming to expand the service coverage to a total of 18 countries.

Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom have the most extensive NB IOT networks in the world, which are commercially available in 16 countries and 9 countries respectively. The development of different network roaming means that the network resources among operators are fully utilized to the greatest extent and provide users with more opportunities to access NB IOT networks in a wider range.

It can be seen that the overseas NB IOT development environment is constantly improving, the opportunities for domestic manufacturers to go to sea are increasing, and more and more domestic industrial partners successfully enter the overseas market with the help of industrial advantages. For example, domestic NB IOT module manufacturers supply more than 6 million pieces overseas, and domestic meter manufacturers have won more than 2 million NB IOT meter contracts in the Middle East.

The launch of Qualcomm single-mode NB IOT chip adds more choices for domestic manufacturers to go to sea, and also gives overseas NB IOT ecological partners a choice of low-cost terminals.

We note that in the press release released by Qualcomm this time, there are "platforms" for overseas mainstream operators such as at & T, Deutsche Telekom and Verizon and Microsoft azure cloud platform, which can significantly promote the overseas NB IOT industry ecology. While Qualcomm released this product, domestic module manufacturers also launched corresponding products at the same time, including modules carrying this chip platform such as mobile Yuan bc660k and mobile Ke l661. Mobile Ke made it clear that Qualcomm ® 212 will greatly help its layout in the global Internet of things market.

Therefore, from the perspective of industrial transmission, Qualcomm's entry into single-mode NB IOT chips has positive significance for domestic manufacturers to go to sea and the global NB IOT industrial ecology.

The diversification trend of Nb IOT is more obvious

As of February this year, the number of domestic NB IOT connections has exceeded 100 million. Huawei expects to double the number of connections by the end of this year. With the rapid growth of the number of connections is the rapid decline of the module cost, and the diversification trend of chip supply is the key element of this process.

In my opinion, in just a few years, the domestic NB IOT chip supply has experienced three obvious stages, which is characterized by the increasing number of suppliers and more optimized structure.

In the first stage, Hisilicon and Qualcomm are the main. In the early stage of Nb IOT development, the commercial chips that can be provided in the market are mainly in the hands of hisilica and Qualcomm, that is, Boudica of hisilica and mdm9206 of Qualcomm. At that time, module manufacturers such as mobile communication, smart core, gaoxinxing IOT, MEG intelligence, Longshang technology, mobile Ke communication, Youfang technology, Zhidi communication, Qijun IOT and wide wing communication all launched the "first bid in the universe" of 500000 NB IOT modules opened by China Telecom in September 2017 based on Qualcomm mdm9206 The winning product gaoxinxing IOT me3612 module is based on mdm9206. At this time, the module price is still at a high level of more than 60 yuan.

In the second stage, 5 manufacturers participated and 3 manufacturers took the lead. With the entry of MediaTek, Ziguang zhanrui and ZTE microelectronics, the number of major players of domestic NB IOT chips has increased to 5. However, in 2018, it has gradually formed a situation dominated by hisilic, MediaTek and Ziguang zhanrui. More and more commercial modules have been selected from these three platforms, the most typical being the two tenders of operators. In September 2018, the procurement results of 3 million modules of China Unicom were released, and the final quotation was basically lower than 30 yuan / piece; In December 2018, the procurement results of 5 million modules of China Mobile were released. The 10 winning modules were basically divided equally by Hisilicon, MediaTek and Ziguang zhanrui, and most of the quotations were less than 25 yuan / piece. The increase in chip suppliers is an important factor in the sharp decline in NB IOT module prices. At this time, due to cost sensitivity, Qualcomm platform shipments are decreasing.

In the third stage, the pattern of coexistence of leading enterprises small and medium-sized enterprises and multi supplier supply. In 2019, with the commercialization of chips by domestic start-ups, Nb IOT multi supplier pattern gradually formed. In addition to Hisilicon, MediaTek and Ziguang zhanrui, the selectivity of module and terminal manufacturers further increased, and the cost of driving modules continued to decline. Typically, the procurement results of 3 million NB IOT modules of China Telecom were released last week. Among them, the modules based on the chip platforms of two start-ups, core wing and mobile core, received 1 million orders and began to appear on the stage of Nb IOT chip players. The products of start-up chip manufacturers such as zhilian'an and nuoling technology have gradually opened large-scale commercial use. The start-up companies have been continuously recognized by the market, increasing the number of Nb IOT chip suppliers. With the formation of multi supplier pattern, the price of Nb IOT module also began to enter the range of 15 yuan / piece.

If the cost of Qualcomm's single-mode NB IOT new product can reach the price level of mainstream products in the current market, Qualcomm is likely to enter the ranks of mainstream suppliers of Nb IOT chips again, further promote the development of the "coexistence of leading enterprises small and medium-sized enterprises and multi supplier supply pattern", and more diversified supply plays an obvious role in the ecological prosperity of Nb IOT.

To sum up, the evolution of Qualcomm NB IOT products from multi-mode to single-mode reflects Qualcomm's attention to the broader NB IOT market, provides new channels for domestic partners to expand overseas markets to a certain extent, and objectively further accelerates the trend of diversified supplier pattern of domestic NB IOT.

As a giant that plays an important role in the mobile communication industry, Qualcomm pays full attention to the Nb IOT market, which indeed has an obvious wind vane effect on the long-term evolution of Nb IOT and its inclusion in 5g core components.