About Cellular IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) is on the verge of becoming one of the most important features of the 21st century, connecting all kinds of objects and devices and establishing communication between a vast amount of devices and services. It unlocks incredible value that benefits all of us in multiple ways.

The technologies unlocking this great potential are the result of continuous investments in effort, time, skill and money made by a group of companies that have taken the risk to focus on innovation.

Instead of keeping the results of their R&D for themselves as trade secrets, these companies disclosed their inventions in patents and collaborated with other companies in the cellular IoT (c-IoT) field to bring their technologies together in open standards. This enabled a broad number of entities to learn how to build c-IoT networks and c-IoT products. It is a process that delivers benefits to, and improves the lives of, people across the globe.

In return for sharing their knowledge in this way, the innovators concerned are entitled to ask for a fair and reasonable royalty from companies making products that implement their patented technology.

Open standards innovation is an ecosystem, requiring a balance between invention and implementation, investment and reward, all parts contingent and dependent on each other.

By creating this patent pool, the participating Patent Owners have created a simple one-stop-shop offering a licence to all their relevant Patents that are essential to implement the LTE-M and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) standards.

Doing this replaces a multitude of discussions, licence agreements, sales reporting obligations and invoices, with a single licence, single reporting and a single royalty payment.

This single licence gives implementers peace of mind to choose LTE-M and NB-IoT as their communication technology if they are believed to provide the best match with their product design and function - and not to make intellectual property conflicts a decisive factor. In turn, this will allow the industry the freedom it needs to grow.

Sisvel supports its partners in this patent pool by acting as an independent administrator, offering commercial solutions that work both for innovators and implementers, making sure the Patent Owners are fairly rewarded for their innovation while also facilitating technology adoption. This is how Sisvel helps to foster innovation.

For more details visit the License Terms page.

Patent Owners

The Sisvel Cellular IoT programme offers a licence to the LTE-M and NB-IoT standard essential patents (SEPs) held by:

  • ASUSTek Computer Inc.

  • BlackBerry Limited

  • Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co., Ltd.

  • Deutsche Telekom AG

  • Electronic and Telecommunication Research Institute

  • Harfang IP Investment Corporation

  • HFI Innovation Inc. (an affiliate of MediaTek, Inc.)

  • Innovative Sonic Limited

  • JVCKENWOOD Corporation

  • KDDI Corporation

  • Koninklijke KPN N.V.

  • Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

  • NTT DOCOMO, Inc.

  • Optis Cellular Technology, LLC

  • Optis Wireless Technology, LLC

  • Orange S.A.

  • Pantech Corporation

  • Shanghai Langbo Communication Technology Co., Ltd

  • Sisvel International S.A.

  • Sony Group Corporation

  • Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson

  • Telefónica S.A.

  • Unwired Planet, LLC

  • [company name to be announced soon]

Patents

Sisvel has the right to grant non-exclusive licences to all LTE-M and NB-IoT standard essential patents held by the participating patent owners.

Licensed Standards

LTE-M includes the portion of the 4G standard applicable to Cat-M (Cat-M1 and/or Cat-M2) device categories NB-IoT includes the portion of the 4G standard applicable to Cat-NB (Cat-NB1 and/or Cat-NB2) device categories

All patent families listed in the patent brochure of the Cellular IoT licensing programme undergo an essentiality evaluation from an independent evaluator. The patent brochure is updated on a regular basis as new patents are evaluated as essential to the relevant licensed standard(s). We aim to publish the patent brochure during 2023.

For more details, please refer to the License Terms page.

Licence Terms

The royalty rates are offered on a per unit basis as follows:

NB-IoT

LTE-M

All NB-IoT Products $0.66

Smart Meters $2 Asset Trackers $1.33

Additional details to be announced.

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