Bharti Airtel announced its partnership with Secure Meters for deploying Narrow Band (NB-IoT) services that will power 1.3 million homes in Bihar through a smart meter solution.
This deployment will be India’s first NB-IoT solution on a narrow band with a fall-back option that will work on 2G and 4G and ensure real-time connectivity and uninterrupted transfer of critical data.

NB-IoT is a low-power, wide area, radio network technology developed by 3GPP which enables a wide variety of IoT devices and services including smart meters.

Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business, said: “IoT is one of the fastest-growing business segments for Airtel Business. This venture into NB-IoT strengthens our credentials as the largest cellular IoT player in the country and places us firmly as a partner of choice for Discoms looking to invest in smart meters.”

Ananya Singhal, Joint MD ─ Secure Meters, said: “With Airtel’s support, we were able to connect and monitor our meters, resulting in greater efficiency and cost savings for Secure and for our customers in North Bihar.”

Airtel’s network is ready for pan India NB-IoT deployment. It is designed for better coverage to address the specific needs of the IoT market.