Canadian telecom operators Bell, Telus and Rogers have struck roaming partnerships with AT&T to provide their business customers access to AT&T’s LTE-M network across the United States.
Bell, which claims to be the first telco to launch LTE-M services in Canada, said that the reciprocal agreement enables AT&T customers to roam on Bell’s national LTE-M network in Canada.
“Our expanded partnership with AT&T further enhances Bell’s LTE-M leadership by providing our customers with network coverage throughout Canada and the U.S.,” said Nauby Jacob, Bell Mobility’s VP of products and services.
Bell highlighted that its LTE-M network supports asset tracking, fleet management, smart sensors, smart city applications and municipal water system management.
Rival telco Telus said that the new coverage in the U.S. through the roaming deal with AT&T adds to the company’s current nationwide LTE-M coverage in Canada. Telus also said that the agreement is reciprocal, meaning that AT&T customers in the United States will be able to roam on Telus’ LTE-M network in Canada.
“Expanding the reach of the Telus LTE-M network is a boon for Telus IoT customers here in Canada, allowing them to easily extend their footprint to the United States and unlocking a tremendous amount of business potential in the process,” said Michael Cihra, Telus VP of IoT. “By working with our peers in the global wireless provider community, Telus is able to open a world of opportunity to Canadian IoT innovators. We are pleased to have partnered with such a storied brand in AT&T and, together, look forward to supporting our clients’ accelerated growth in the IoT space.”
“More and more of our enterprise customers are launching IoT applications across international boundaries. Having access to the Telus LTE-M network across Canada will help them simplify deployments and scale their North American IoT plans,” said Chris Penrose, president, advanced mobility and enterprise solutions, AT&T.
Telus also said that its LTE-M network is fully compatible with 5G technologies to support low-power wide-area IoT applications such as smart cities, advanced logistics and agriculture. Telus launched its LTE-M network in Canada in October 2018.
Meanwhile, Rogers also announced a reciprocal agreement with AT&T to extend LTE-M coverage for IoT customers of both companies, throughout Canada and the United States. This agreement, too, is a reciprocal one which allows Rogers IoT customers to roam on the AT&T LTE-M network while in the US and for AT&T customers to roam on the Rogers LTE-M network in Canada.
Rogers also recently launched NB-IoT technology in Canada, which it said is complementary to Rogers’ national LTE and LTE-M networks.
“With this AT&T roaming agreement, combined with the launch of our NB-IoT network technology in Canada, we are once again driving more innovation for businesses,” said Dean Prevost, president, Rogers for Business.
In April this year, AT&T officially launched its NB-IoT network in the U.S., which joins the carrier’s existing LTE-M network to add a second low-power wide-area network option for IoT uses.
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