Techno-Economic Analysis of Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) Deployment for Smart Metering

Abstract

The Internet of things (IoT) wireless network are evolving to help meet the needs of a wide variety of connected devices. 3GPP has introduced a narrowband system based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) named Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). It provides low-cost, wide coverage, long battery life, and support massive devices. The smart meter has become one of the main element in smart grids that potential to use NB-IoT technology and categorized into massive IoT because of its characteristics requirements. This paper aims to provide a techno-economic analysis of NB-IoT deployment for smart metering. The analysis results show that smart metering deployment will be feasible if there are consumers involvement considered. In addition, based on sensitivity analysis results, material costs become the most critical element to bring successful deployment. Its variations and slight changes have a significant impact on the overall Net Present Value (NPV).