ITU + IoT = IoU

Things seems to be moving on the front of Internet of Things (IoT) standardization.

According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua a draft standard for the overview of IoT appears to have been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the end of March. It will be interesting to see whether the draft goes further than the “technical” (e.g., spectrum, numbering) aspects of IoT standardization and covers issues such as recycling, privacy, security or the environment.

Given the different views that Europe, the United States and China hold on these issues, reaching a global agreement might imply a lot of horse-trading between the key players. While not surprising given the size of the Chinese Internet population (and its potential for growth), it is nonetheless a sign of times that China positions itself among the lead countries for standardization emerging technologies.

A global mobile standard

 The chances to have LTE as a global standard for mobile telephony are looking better and better… at last

For sure it has taken some time to clear the Chinese 3G hurdle but business sense is prevailing again and there has been (almost) no loss of face with the  TD-SCDMA standard - Chinese engineers and politicians can rest their case.

China Mobile, who was “entrusted” with rolling out TD-SCDMA, is looking towards deploying LTE before the end of the year. The company has even joined its former strategic partner Vodafone for a pilot trial.

Two questions remain: when will the legacy technologies be decommissionned and who will get the royalties fees? Maybe industrial policy is not dead after all.