Scaling IoT Worldwide – How Telekom Solves Hidden Risks

Hello, dear friends of IoT. Today’s episode is a must-listen for anyone dealing with wireless connectivity. We talk about how scalable and secure IoT connectivity works worldwide – across Narrowband IoT, LTE, 5G, and even satellite. Joining us is an international expert from Telekom IoT: Salvator Kenndler.
We’ll address questions from the community and discuss with Salvator which technology really fits which use case, which pitfalls can cost you time and money, how to roll out IoT solutions in other countries, and how to handle technical complexities when scaling to thousands or even millions of devices across IT and OT systems.
As always, you can find all details that support your IoT use cases and projects on www.iotusecase.com and in the show notes. Let’s dive in!

Welcome, Salvator. Hi, great to have you on the podcast. How are you doing and where are you joining from today?

Salvator

Hello, thank you, Madeleine. It’s a pleasure to be here. My name is Salvator, I am responsible for the international connectivity business at Deutsche Telekom IoT, short DT IoT. I have dialed in from beautiful Vienna and I am very much looking forward to our conversation.

Nice. Today we want to discuss IoT scaling challenges. Since you are often traveling and working with many different customers, do you have a specific use case that recently impressed or surprised you? Or do you have a favorite use case from your experience?

Salvator

I don’t really have a favorite one because there are so many exciting use cases out there. While preparing for our conversation I realized that many use cases might sound boring if you don’t know what they actually do, because they often work invisibly in the background. For example, when we look at industrial IoT in smart factories, these are use cases that most users or consumers never notice. But there are also some that are quite fun, either because they are exotic or because they tackle very specific issues that you only recognize once you hear about them. For example, we have customers with connected bell towers, connecting churches, which is important especially for small communities that cannot afford someone being present in the church to operate the bells. Another example is smart beach baskets, which in principle is a smart lock use case but applied in a really cool way. When you visit the beach you can simply use an app to book, lock and unlock your beach basket.

So you are monitoring, for example, the bell in the church or even the devices on the beach.

Salvator

Yeah, right. Those are usually the more fun use cases because in our everyday life we don’t really think that such a use case might be relevant. But when we look at our business, where we contribute connectivity to many of those projects, the majority of use cases are actually quite classical. We are looking at asset tracking, which is probably invisible to a lot of people, but in the background logistics companies rely on it heavily, for example for cargo and supply chains. Even there, some use cases are more relatable because they are not only about optimizing operations or making logistics more efficient but are also consumer oriented. For example, we spoke to a company that provides asset tracking for luxury goods so that customers can be sure they are not receiving counterfeit products. If you order a luxury handbag, this company specializes in tracking and making the entire process transparent, from the factory where it is produced to the final mile delivery. That way you can be certain you are getting an authentic product.
So even in logistics there are use cases that are not as prominent but serve a very specific need that many of us might encounter at some point.

On our platform we had a great example with HP, an autonomous printing robot for construction sites. That shows how many different B2B focused use cases exist, not only in consumer applications but also directly in industry and construction.

Salvator

I even took that robot for a walk with our contacts at HP. We gave the robot a name at MWC some years ago and decided to free it from the small showcase area. Walking this little printing robot around got us a lot of attention and was really exciting.

That’s a cool project, I will put it in the show notes for everyone to check out.
Maybe to give a short introduction to the company background. I guess everybody knows Telekom, but in the area of IoT you are providing a specific focus. Telekom IoT is known as a European leader in IoT connectivity, offering SIM cards, network management and security infrastructure. I think we will learn a lot about that today. Do you have a real use case example where we could go deeper into how the technology works and what you are offering?

Salvator

Sure. The idea of what we do at Deutsche Telekom IoT is to take the really complex topic of connectivity and simplify it in a way that our customers and partners don’t have to focus on it. They don’t need to deal with the complexity or spend time, resources and expertise on it. I usually recommend that even before or during product and project development it makes sense to reach out and have a conversation with people who deal with M2M connectivity every day and have done so for 15 to 20 years. At Deutsche Telekom IoT we have nearly 600 people dedicated to IoT and M2M connectivity, working every day on making our offerings more competitive, advancing our technologies and identifying new use cases. All this knowledge and expertise is available to our customers. So when they have questions we are ready to discuss and find solutions.
I notice in my daily work that connectivity is an extremely complex topic. Every time I meet with our technology colleagues I realize just how much there is to know about IoT connectivity. But not everyone has to go that deep. For example, whether NB IoT or LTE-M is the best fit might not matter to the customer, but it makes a big difference for the use case. Sometimes a satellite technology fallback can make the whole use case much stronger. Those kinds of considerations are our daily business.

Okay. Do some customers set up their projects in a way where you think, hey, that could be easier?

Salvator

Yes. One of the first challenges is picking the right technology. Many companies have a good level of expertise in connectivity and can make the right choice, but complexity increases quickly when it comes to internationalization. Releasing a product locally in one market already brings its own challenges. But if, for example, a German mid-sized company develops a track and trace solution and wants to sell it in France or Italy, the complexity rises significantly.

Because suddenly you have to manage thousands of devices that must be globally accessible?

Salvator

Yes. And in Europe we have certain standards within the European Union, but the market overall consists of roughly 27 to 30 countries. Each of these has its own regulators and its own technological implementations. Many of these are standardized, but especially with new technologies like eSIM or iSIM the standards are not yet fully established. When something new is released, it often has not matured enough for everyone to follow the same approach. There are always slightly different implementations, and that adds complexity.

Right. Can we go one step further with these risks and cost drivers? For example, when it comes to connection management, all the SIMs and data usage. What are specific risks customers face? Are they sometimes paying monthly for unused SIM cards or oversized plans? Or are there other aspects where you think they could improve?

Salvator

The commercials, especially in international business, are often difficult to compare because there are so many components that need to be factored in before you really understand how big the investment will be with one provider or another. The devil is in the details and most of our customers have to deal with a lot of unknowns in their calculations. That is the commercial side.
If you make the wrong decision on technology, you might progress very far into a project only to find out that a certain technology is not available in one of your target markets or is only available in a limited way. For example, the amount of data that can be transmitted on NB IoT varies from country to country or even from operator to operator. Some allow you to use the lines quite openly while others have restrictions. Making the wrong decision can delay your product rollout by months or even years, and in the worst case you might already have sunk a lot of money before noticing the issue. Luckily most of our customers, especially those who talk to us early on, avoid these really big mistakes. But we work with startups as well as multinationals, and startups in particular appreciate the consultation and detailed know-how before they make business-critical decisions for their rollout.

Right, and that’s something we should point out. You have a whole consultancy team and customer success management that bring in this experience. With so many projects coming in you can use this expertise directly for your customers, correct?

Salvator

Exactly. I remember a very interesting discussion with one of our technology experts when we compared SIM materials. For most people it’s just plastic with a chip on it. From your mobile phone you know the so-called triple SIMs, the business card sized cards where you can break out the format you need. Years ago I asked why we didn’t offer them since they seemed the easiest choice. The response was eye-opening. With a mobile phone flexibility matters, but its lifespan is three or four years, sometimes shorter, rarely longer. IoT devices on the other hand often last ten years or more, for example smart metering devices. To make the triple SIM breakable, the material needs to be slightly thinner. That tiny variance in thickness can increase the risk of errors over a ten-year lifespan because the SIM has more room to move. If you use it in a tracker that is constantly vibrating and moving, this can cause problems. When I first heard this, I was impressed because it shows the level of expertise we have built internally, knowledge you cannot just Google.

Coming back to the regulation part. Do you have best practices to share on how to ensure global coverage while complying with country-specific regulations, especially in high-risk or remote regions? How can companies best deal with that?

Salvator

Yes, absolutely. Especially in international business we are in the fortunate position that many of the regions our customers operate in are peaceful, politically stable and therefore predictable and plannable. Of course, we do see a shift in geopolitics and economics, with some markets closing themselves off or becoming more protective of their regions. This also affects the telecom business. Still, most operators in most countries remain open. At the moment we have over 500 roaming agreements worldwide to ensure that no matter where you go, you can stay connected. Or as one of my team members likes to put it, if there is a signal, we will find it.

That’s a good one, I like that.

Salvator

For example, in Europe we have three to four roaming partners in every single country. So even if one operator decides to go their own way, there are still other partners left that collaborate because roaming is always a two-way street. Even in trickier regions we have dedicated teams for technology and commercial roaming that find solutions which are legal, official, technologically sound and certified. This way we can get your device online almost anywhere. Of course, there are restrictions we cannot influence, such as sanctioned countries like North Korea, but those are exceptions. Fortunately most parts of the world are still open and accessible. And even in remote or difficult regions we usually have multiple roaming partners in place to make sure devices can go online and stay online.

Okay. Coming back to the technology. You mentioned Narrowband IoT and different use case requirements. How can companies choose the right connectivity technology, like NB IoT or others? I saw you also provide a connectivity or technology guide. How can I as a company decide between these technologies and what are your best practices?

Salvator

The first step should always be to define your use case and expectations very clearly. That includes how much data you expect to transmit and where the devices will be located. Unless it’s an extremely unusual scenario, we already have a lot of experience with most use cases out there. I recommend starting with our homepage where we provide a guide that gives a good overview of which technology best fits which use case. That’s step one.
If you are still unsure or have a use case that deviates from the usual applications, just reach out. Our experts are there to consult, answer questions and clarify if, for example, NB IoT really is the right technology for your needs. Sometimes people read a white paper or two online and assume it applies directly to their situation, but expectations can be misleading. At the end of the day what we do is enable our customers’ solutions. Our contribution may seem small but it is critical. Choosing the wrong connectivity technology can put an entire project at risk.

I will also put the connectivity guide in the show notes. And for our community, let us know how you handle it. Many of you are working with different technologies. For example, satellite IoT comes to mind for offshore platforms, cargo tracking at sea or smart farming in remote areas where there is little to no connectivity. Is that something you are working on as well?

Salvator

Yes, very much. Especially over the past year we have had many conversations about satellite IoT because it is often misunderstood. The main use cases we support with satellite are fallback scenarios for terrestrial technologies. Customers often worry that data via satellite is too expensive. And yes, if you tried to stream your favorite series over satellite, that would indeed be a waste of money. But satellite is not expensive when used for critical use cases where the transmitted data, even if small, is essential for mission success.
To give you an example, one of our customers deploys sensors to monitor the environment in order to predict and provide early warnings in case of natural disasters. These sensors are placed in very remote areas without network coverage. They measure, for instance, how water levels change and how rainfall affects them. In such areas terrestrial networks often do not work, and even if they do, they are not reliable enough. That is why a satellite fallback is used to ensure the message is sent from the device to the endpoint.

So you are basically offering a hybrid model, primarily mobile connectivity with satellite as a fallback when needed?

Salvator

Exactly. And that fallback can be absolutely critical. Imagine a flood developing in a certain area. You need an alarm to evacuate people nearby. If, because of bad connectivity, the warning message never leaves the device, the result could be millions in damages and even lives lost. A single failed data packet can lead to a disaster. That’s why it is so important to make sure that no matter what, the warning message goes out and the data points are transmitted so that systems can detect a natural disaster in time.
This is why expectations matter so much when choosing connectivity technologies. Streaming video over satellite is technically feasible, but commercially unreasonable. On the other hand, if a 32-byte message can be the difference between life and death, then you want every possible fallback option. That is why I enjoy the conversations around satellite so much, because there is still a lot of education needed, unlike with technologies like LTE where the understanding is more established.

Can you explain what exactly the solution is and what technical building blocks it consists of? Where do your offerings start and where do they end?

Salvator

That is a tricky question because I am responsible for the international connectivity business at Deutsche Telekom IoT, and within the group we have many sister companies and departments offering a wide range of solutions, from IoT to security. The advantage is that when you work with us on connectivity and a related issue comes up, chances are we have colleagues somewhere in the group who specialize in that exact topic.
If we narrow it down to IoT connectivity, we focus on the connectivity layer itself. That includes technologies like NB IoT, LTE, LTE-M, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G. We are also working on 5G standalone and network slicing. We offer satellite connectivity, both narrowband and broadband. That covers the transmission technologies.
On the SIM side, we provide classic plastic SIMs, industrial-grade SIMs for demanding use cases, eSIMs with different variants and iSIM technology. Scalability is also a big topic. One SIM card doesn’t need management, even ten is still simple. But if you scale to thousands or millions of SIMs, you need a proper connectivity management platform, a CMP. We have our own in-house developed platform, already used by automotive customers who have extremely high demands for quality and reliability.
We also provide hardware certification. If you are in product development and unsure which module to choose, we have a dedicated team that checks modules from different manufacturers for compatibility. We even have a public database where you can look up if the module you plan to implement is compatible with Deutsche Telekom networks. Usually, if it works with our networks, it is compatible with most other networks as well. This certification is therefore a very high-quality reference.

Okay, let me try to sum this up. First you bring in the technology expertise and the different connectivity options. Then three main points stand out for me. One is connection management, with a centralized portal where everything can be managed. Second is device control, including things like firmware updates. And third would be alerts and reporting with dashboards. Or would you say that the IoT software application layer is not really part of the connectivity side?

Salvator

Yes, that’s right. Connectivity doesn’t end with the SIM card or the transmission technology. We also work with partners if a use case requires more than the standard. Take positioning as an example. GPS is fine when you only need to know a location within a few meters, but for certain use cases you need far more precision. Robotic lawnmowers are a great example. Some are guided by Wi-Fi or wires in the garden, which is not very practical. We provide a precise positioning service, called RTK, where a lawnmower robot can be guided with an accuracy of less than 10 centimeters. That means no wires, no Wi-Fi limitations, you just deploy it and it works. This is a good example of where we combine connectivity with other services to enable very specific use cases.

That’s cool. Many companies in our network work on connectivity solutions, but they also need them implemented in their existing IT/OT infrastructures. Do you also integrate these connectivity solutions into existing systems, or is that something your partners handle?

Salvator

It depends on what exactly you want to integrate. If it is about connectivity management, our platform has a strong API feature set. Customers can access it easily and many of our larger customers don’t use the web portal directly. Instead, they integrate everything they need into their existing systems, whether it’s ERP, logistics deployment systems or others. We provide the tools to make integration straightforward.
Beyond that, it really becomes project-based. We look closely at the customer’s requirements and then bring in partners or colleagues as needed. Our customer base ranges from startups with just a handful of SIM cards to automotive companies with highly complex, interconnected systems. Automotive in particular requires deep integration into their own environments, so here we always evaluate individually. But yes, integration into existing infrastructures is definitely possible.

Okay, that’s cool. When we look into the future and think about the next years, what would you expect for your department and for the overall IoT connectivity industry? What trends do you see coming up?

Salvator

If you look at the data from the big analyst houses, it’s pretty self-explanatory. We expect CAGR numbers worldwide of between 7 and 13 percent, depending on region and use case. Agriculture is forecast to grow massively, and healthcare use cases also show a lot of promise. So I’m optimistic about the overall market developments.
Of course, geopolitical and economic shifts play a role. China, for example, is pushing to expand globally, which will create some pressure for European and American IoT service providers. That’s why we position ourselves strategically as a global partner. Just because our name is Deutsche Telekom IoT doesn’t mean we only serve German customers. Germany is a very important market for us, but companies in many other countries can also source our connectivity and deploy it worldwide. We have teams and experts across Europe who consult locally and work on local, international and global projects. We are truly a global connectivity provider and that is important to understand.

Perfect. If you’re planning an IoT project or thinking about global deployments, check out the link in the show notes and visit iotusecase.com to join our community. With that, I’ll give you the last word to close this session. Thank you from my side for joining us today.

Salvator

Thank you very much for the invitation. This was a really interesting conversation for me as well. I’m happy to share some of our experiences and I look forward to our next discussion.

Thank you and have a great rest of the week.

Salvator

Bye.