LUXEMBOURG – Sisvel International S.A. (Sisvel) announced today the launch of its Cellular IoT (C-IoT) Patent Pool consisting of 20 patent owners.

The C-IoT patent pool offers a single solution to license standard essential patents (SEPs) that are essential for the use of the cellular LPWAN standards LTE-M and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). Sisvel is joined in the pool by ASUSTek, Datang, Ericsson, ETRI, Innovative Sonic, JVCKENWOOD, KDDI, MediaTek, Mitsubishi Electric, NTT DOCOMO, Optis Cellular, Optis Wireless, Orange, Pantech, Shanghai Langbo, Sony Group Corporation, Telefónica, Unwired Planet and one additional company to be announced soon. The pool remains open for new participants that hold relevant patents. The C-IoT pool's initial main focus will be on smart meters and asset trackers.

"The IoT market has been in development for about a decade, however only now we see clear early signs of widespread roll-out." said Mattia Fogliacco, President of the Sisvel Group. He continues: "The LTE-M and NB-IoT technologies are an obvious pick to connect products and services, and with this pool, available already in an early phase of technology adoption, we will remove a lot of questions and concerns by giving easy, transparent and reasonable access to the patents that the creators of the technology hold."

"It has been a pleasure putting this pool together, as so many parties with diverse background and business models showed resolve and common interest in creating a pool in the LPWAN IoT space." said Sven Törringer, the program manager of the Sisvel C-IoT patent pool. He added: "This has been a harmonious process and we are convinced that the offer we bring to the market will not only reduce friction and concerns, but rather boost the interest in the adoption of the LTE-M and NB-IoT standards in IoT products, allowing for swift investments in this sense."

LTE-M and NB-IoT are cellular LPWAN IoT standards that followed out of the 4G LTE standard. They offer a solution for low power connectivity of IoT products, that may compete with the functionality offered by a number of other technologies, such as LoRaWAN, Sigfox, WiFi, MIOTY, Bluetooth, various mesh network technologies, etc, and combinations thereof. By offering a clear framework for obtaining licenses under the pool's portfolio of LTE-M and NB-IoT SEPs, Sisvel is making it easier for manufacturers of IoT devices to make a balanced choice between the available technologies. The Sisvel pool has committed itself to make the terms of LTE-M and NB-IoT competitive, to encourage the use of the LPWAN cellular IoT standards, helping to achieve a level playing field.

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Sisvel