T-Mobile and Dish Wireless woo IoT and 5G developers

Developers are in demand for 5G networks as operators seek service innovations to expand offerings and grow revenues. Just in the last week, T-Mobile and Dish Wireless in the US each stepped up efforts to entice developers to experiment on their networks.

T-Mobile introduced an Internet of Things (IoT) developer kit that is aimed at making it easier to build for its network. It is the latest solution from the DevEdge self-serve developer platform, which the operator launched in March this year as part of a broader innovation program, called “5G Forward”.

The operator said there is “no coding required” and the kit automatically connects to the network, but not to 5G. The kit comes with a SIM card for CAT-M IoT (a.k.a., LTE-M, a low power wide area technology with speeds up to 375 kbps), which is loaded with loaded with 500 Mbytes of data and 200 SMS messages. Developers also have access to free network APIs, such as device location, diagnostic tools, and SMS notifications, and an SDK based on the Zephyr Real-time Operating System. Bluetooth and WiFi are also supported to allow for a broader set of potential use cases.

IoT outliers

Launching a developer kit for IoT is somewhat unusual for a large telco. It’s “not unheard of” but it’s “not the norm”, according to Matt Hatton, Founding Partner at Transforma Insights.

There are differing opinions among operators with some “convinced that the developers, particularly in the context of devices, are key to unlocking a lot of future opportunity … Others see that kind of developer focus as a distraction. The truth is somewhere in between, but probably more towards the former than the latter”, he said.

Typically, larger players “don’t worry too much about developers” while smaller players, particularly the IoT MVNOs, are “much keener”, said Hatton.

T-Mobile appears to be taking a page out of parent Deutsche Telekom’s IoT playbook. Hatton noted that DT’s IoT business unit has “made a point of pushing small volume, trial, developer-friendly options” through its IoT Creators program and IoT Solution Optimizer. These offerings as well as T-Mobile’s developer kit are “outliers” in Hatton’s view.

The kit’s low price of $99 suggests T-Mobile wants to be open to anyone with an IoT idea.

Rob Roy, Senior Vice President of Emerging Products at T-Mobile, said: “We’re empowering developers, no matter their size or what stage of the development process they’re in, to create innovative connected solutions”.

Even though the kit doesn’t support 5G, the offering is part of the operator’s push to attract developers to its network and the operator highlighted two startups that have developed 5G IoT applications. Pano AI, a member of T-Mobile’s 5G Open Innovation Lab, uses 5G-connected cameras and AI for early detection of wildfires for emergency services. Another example is Canadian research firm InDro Robotics, which recently tested remoted controlled inspection robots over the 5G network for monitoring electricity infrastructure.

When T-Mobile unveiled 5G Forward and the DevEdge platform in March, it said operators need to “get out of the way” if 5G is going to achieve its potential. The initiatives were positioned as breaking down barriers to innovation and making it easier to build new solutions for the network.

Dish opens up network APIs

Upstart cloud-native operator Dish Wireless launched a Developer Hub and announced that it is exposing certain network APIs for developers to build 5G connectivity solutions.

In a blog co-authored by senior members of Dish’s Enterprise Architecture team, the operator said “providing a low-risk, low-cost way to experiment on a 5G network is essential to accelerate innovations that require 5G connectivity. Exposing our network APIs is our approach to mobilizing developers around the nation so they can experiment on our platform in an easy and scalable manner”.

Examples of what developers will be able to do with Dish’s network APIs include provisioning 5G network connections and managing device lifecycles; testing configuration, performance, and cost predictions; and streaming “near real-time data” about the status of devices, services, and network, according to the Developer Hub website.

Dish is hosting a workshop at the AWS re:Invent event this week to show the capabilities of its network APIs. As Fierce Wireless reported, it will show how eight software vendors use the APIs to create new applications. Those selected for the showcase are Cisco, Confluent, IBM, Macrometa, Oracle, Palantir, Swim and Totogi.