Verizon is delivering on its promise of launching its LTE CAT-M (also known as CAT-M1 or LTE-M) Internet of Things (IoT) network nationwide by the end of the first quarter. The company said today that its LTE CAT-M network is now live and covers 2.4 million square miles in the U.S.

LTE CAT-M is part of the 3GPP LTE Release 13 Advanced Pro standard and is intended for narrowband LTE applications that require a low power network with widespread coverage. The technology offers several benefits, including longer battery life for IoT devices (up to 10 years or more), modules that are less expensive than 4G LTE modules, and better network coverage in buildings and underground.

Verizon’s LTE CAT-M network is built on a virtualized cloud environment that the company said makes it easy to scale and to add customized services. The carrier also said that it can offer data plans as low as $2 per month per device.

Verizon is pairing its LTE CAT-M network with its ThingSpace IoT Platform and ThingSpace client. For example, the ThingSpace client will be pre-loaded on the CAT-M chipsets so that developers and customers will be able to create IoT solutions and manage them from the network to the device, to the application layer.

Chip makers like Sequans, Altair, and Qualcomm have been involved in CAT-M development. Telit, Gemalto, Nokia and others have also committed to the technology.

About 14,000 developers currently use Verizon’s ThingSpace IoT platform, which is web-based and designed as an easy tool for developers to use for IoT applications