Government Takes Steps for Proliferation and Innovation in M2M

The government of India has been working to develop M2M communication as one of the most important technologies developing across the globe. Therefore, recently, the government has taken multiple steps to facilitate the proliferation and development of the same.

The Government's M2M Bid

M2M communications facilitate applications such as Power, Automotive, Safety & Surveillance, Remote Health Management, Agriculture, Smart Homes, Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, etc. using connected devices. The government, therefore, took the following steps:

1. Most recently, the government issued the registration of M2MSP Service Providers and WPAN/WLAN Connectivity Providers on 8th February 2022. Under the said guidelines, the applicants need to register themselves to get permission to provide SIM and WPAN/WLAN-based M2M communications.
2. Last month, the government introduced new licenses for UL(M2M) and UL-VNO(M2M) under UL and UL-VNO. Further, the government also amended the guidelines for UL and UL (VNO). With this, the access providers can also provide connectivity of M2M/IoT networks.
3. The government will also devote an additional 1 MHz extra spectrum, taking the total spectrum availability to 865-868 MHz. Along with this, the government has redefined radiated power, channel bandwidth, and duty cycle, depending on the M2M use case.

Steps Taken By DoT

Similarly, the DoT has taken several steps to promote and facilitate M2M communication.

1. Released a 13-digit numbering plan exclusively for M2M/IoT devices connected through mobile networks.
2. Features of the SIMs used only for M2M Communication Services have been defined and related KYC instructions for issuing M2M SIMs to entities/organizations providing M2M Communication under the bulk category have also been issued.
3. DoT has also permitted the use of embedded SIMs by allowing Telecom Service Providers to configure them Over The Air (OTA). This has enabled the availability of sufficient numbering resources and led to a robust framework for the mobile M2M eco-system in the country.
4. Important parameters for a large-size M2M network, are scalability, interoperability, and efficiency. To support such deployments, the Government has adopted international standards set by the OneM2M alliance, and Release 2 standards were adopted in January '20 as national standards through TEC, the technical wing of DoT.
5. TEC had also released recommendations on loT/ M2M security in Jan. '19 and a Code of practice for securing consumer loT in Aug '21. Both these documents suggest ways to have safe and secure loT deployments.