Ericsson and Orange see the Internet of Things (IoT) as a growth opportunity within cellular, and together they will be conducting a trial over LTE and GSM. The partners announced today that they'll trial Ericsson’s software-only upgrades to: improve indoor coverage, reduce IoT device cost, and extend battery life.

The companies want to improve indoor coverage to reach challenging locations such as deep indoor basements where many smart meters are installed, or remote areas in which sensors are deployed for agriculture or infrastructure monitoring. They will conduct an extended-coverage GSM trial in France, using the 900 MHz band, with the aim to enhance device reachability by up to 20 dB or a seven-fold improvement in the range of low-rate applications.

In parallel, an LTE trial in partnership with chipset manufacturer Sequans will take place using inexpensive devices with one receive antenna (instead of two). This simplifies the device hardware architecture, allowing for a cost reduction in comparison with existing LTE Cat 4.

Also in partnership with Sequans, Ericsson will demonstrate energy efficiency over GSM and LTE networks with power-saving-mode technology, which is supported by an evolved packet core (EPC). It enables extended battery life of communication modules, such as sensors, by up to 10 years.

Ericsson has been on a bit of a wireless partnership rampage of late.

The company also today announced a 5G research and development collaboration with the Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI.  In addition, Ericsson and Qatar-based Ooredoo Group signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate 5G components in a controlled environment.

And yesterday, Ericsson said the Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo will be using Ericsson’s 5G radio prototypes in live field trials of Ericsson’s 5G radio test bed.