Verizon has certified Nordic Semiconductor's nRF9160 multimode NB-IoT and Cat M chip on its LTE network.

The chipset incorporates an ARM Cortex-M33 application processor, a full LTE modem, RF Front End (RFFE) and power management system. The system also has an Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) receiver that locates devices with data from both GPS satellites and cellular networks, which is useful when devices are located underground or otherwise hard for satellite signals to reach.

Figure 1: Source: Verizon

"This device was first certified on our Cat M1 network, and they will soon get NB-IoT certification," a Verizon spokesperson told Light Reading. Verizon turned on its NB-IoT network in the US on May 14, but the company hasn't said how many NB-IoT chipsets it has certified on the network yet.

This certification will speed up the adoption of the nRF9160 chipset for IoT applications. Verizon also includes the chipset as the first module in its ThingSpace Ready hardware program, pricing the module at $10 when ordered in quantities of 50,000 or more. Verizon started the ThingsSpace program to make it easier for developers to roll out IoT devices in October 2015.

Verizon says devices using this chipset will be on its network by the end of the year.

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— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading