Global connectivity considerations

Key takeaways

Building a cellular IoT device that works in one country is one challenge. Building one that works globally is a different challenge entirely. This micro-module covers the carrier landscape, roaming complexities, frequency band fragmentation, and regulatory considerations that affect worldwide cellular IoT deployments and the solutions that help manage this complexity.

What you'll learn

How the global carrier landscape differs by region for IoT technologies

Unlike Wi-Fi, which operates on globally harmonized unlicensed spectrum, cellular IoT depends on licensed spectrum allocated differently in every country. Each carrier makes independent decisions about which technologies to deploy, which frequency bands to use, and which IoT services to offer.

• In North America, LTE-M is dominant: AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all provide nationwide LTE-M coverage. In Europe, both LTE-M and NB-IoT are widely available, varying by carrier.
• In China, NB-IoT is dominant, with China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom supporting hundreds of millions of devices.
• Japan and South Korea have strong LTE-M and emerging 5G RedCap support.
• Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East are in various stages of LPWA buildout.

Why IoT roaming is more complicated than phone roaming

For devices that ship from a factory in one country and deploy in another or that physically cross borders, roaming is essential. IoT roaming has complications beyond phone roaming: permanent roaming restrictions (some carriers disconnect devices that stay on a visited network indefinitely), technology availability mismatches (your home carrier supports LTE-M but the destination carrier only supports NB-IoT), and data routing issues (traditional roaming routes data back to the home carrier's core network, adding latency and creating regulatory concerns when data crosses borders).

How frequency band fragmentation affects hardware design

LTE-M and NB-IoT operate within existing LTE frequency bands, but different carriers use different bands. A device designed for Band 13 (Verizon in the US) will not work on Band 20 (common in Europe) unless the module supports both. Modern multi-band modules typically support 10–15+ LTE bands to cover most global carriers, but you must verify band support against every target market during hardware design. Band selection directly affects antenna design, regulatory testing scope, and bill-of-materials cost.

What regulatory certifications are required for each target market

Different countries require separate radio type approval certifications. A device certified for the United States (FCC) needs separate certification for Europe (CE/RED), Japan (TELEC), Brazil (ANATEL), and others. Each process adds 4–8 weeks and several thousand dollars per market. The number of certifications required scales with the number of target countries, making regulatory planning a critical early-stage activity in global product development.

How eSIM and multi-IMSI solve global connectivity challenges

The industry is adopting eSIM (eUICC) technology to address global connectivity challenges. With eSIM, a single physical SIM card can hold multiple carrier profiles. When a device arrives in a new country, a local carrier profile can be downloaded over the air, avoiding permanent roaming and connecting to a local carrier with full service support. The SGP.32 standard is purpose-built for headless IoT devices, enabling remote SIM provisioning at scale without human interaction. This eliminates the need for regional SIM SKUs and manual SIM swaps.

Lesson 1.5 Self-assessment

Frequently asked questions