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Spain’s Connected V16 Emergency Beacon and the Role of Cellular IoT in Road Safety

Since January 2026, drivers in Spain have been required to use a connected V16 emergency beacon instead of traditional roadside warning triangles when their vehicle breaks down or is involved in an accident. What might appear to be a simple flashing light actually represents a sophisticated example of how cellular IoT technologies are being integrated into national traffic management systems. The V16 beacon is designed to be placed on the roof of a vehicle and activated immediately in the event of a breakdown or accident. The device emits a bright amber flashing light visible in all directions, improving visibility for approaching vehicles without requiring the driver to walk along the road to place warning triangles. This alone reduces the risk of secondary accidents, particularly on high-speed roads. The real innovation, however, lies in the connectivity built into this new generation of safety hardware. Certified devices include a GNSS receiver and a cellular communication module. O...
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3D Communication Networks and the Future of Connectivity

Traditional communication networks have largely been designed around a two dimensional view of the world. Base stations are deployed across cities and rural areas, creating coverage footprints that expand horizontally across the landscape. While this approach has supported the growth of mobile communications for decades, the increasing demand for connectivity everywhere is pushing the industry to rethink how networks are designed and operated. The concept of a three dimensional communication network is emerging as a response to this challenge. Instead of relying only on terrestrial infrastructure, future networks are expected to integrate connectivity layers that exist on the ground, in the air and in space. By combining these layers into a unified architecture, it becomes possible to provide seamless coverage across environments that are currently difficult to serve. A 3D communication network brings together several different types of platforms. Traditional ground based cellular netw...
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Underwater Communications and the Challenge of Ocean Connectivity

In May 2025, theNetworkingChannel brought together a panel of leading researchers for a deep technical discussion on underwater communications and networks . Organised by Marco Ajmone Marsan of IMDEA Networks Institute and Politecnico di Torino, the webinar explored how connectivity can be extended into one of the most challenging environments on Earth, the underwater domain. The session highlighted not only how far the field has progressed, but also why underwater networking remains fundamentally different from the terrestrial and satellite systems that dominate today’s connectivity landscape.  The discussion opened by setting the context for underwater communications as an enabling technology for ocean observation, industrial operations and autonomous systems. From seabed sensors and autonomous underwater vehicles to surface buoys and gateways linking back to shore, the vision is of a heterogeneous network that spans the seabed, the water column and the surface. Cabled connection...
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Wi-Fi HaLow - A Long Range, Low Power Wi-Fi Standard Designed for IoT

Wi-Fi HaLow is emerging as an important technology for large scale Internet of Things deployments that require long range, energy efficient, and IP native connectivity. Built on the IEEE 802.11ah standard, Wi-Fi HaLow extends Wi-Fi into sub-1 GHz spectrum, typically between 850 and 950 MHz depending on the regulatory domain. Operating well below the traditional 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz Wi-Fi bands allows it to support significantly greater range and better penetration through walls, floors and outdoor obstacles, which makes it well suited to industrial environments, logistics facilities, campuses, utilities and extended coverage smart home scenarios. Where conventional Wi-Fi standards such as Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 are optimised for very high throughput and multi-gigabit applications, Wi-Fi HaLow is targeted at low to moderate data rate IoT workloads. These include telemetry, control, monitoring, and in some cases transmission of images or video streams where bandwidth requirements are modest ra...
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Top 5 Posts for 2025

Connectivity Technology Blog may still be a relatively small and focused publication, but its scope is broad. The blog looks across the full spectrum of connectivity technologies, from fixed and mobile cellular networks such as 4G, 5G and 6G, through to Wi-Fi, IoT, Bluetooth, LoRaWAN, Sigfox and satellite communications. Since launching in 2019, the aim has always been to explain how these technologies work and why they matter, without hype or unnecessary complexity. 2025 turned out to be a standout year. The blog crossed a significant milestone, recording well over half a million views during the year. That growth has been driven entirely by reader interest and engagement, which makes it even more rewarding. As the year comes to a close, it feels like the right moment to look back and highlight the posts that resonated most strongly with readers. As has become a bit of an annual tradition, here is a look at the most popular content from 2025. Top 5 Most Viewed Posts of 2025 One intere...
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Skylo’s Work on Making NB-NTN Voice a Reality

At the Global 5G Evolution Workshop a couple of months ago, Soham Desai, Staff Wireless Systems Engineer at Skylo, delivered an insightful session on the progress of voice over NB-NTN and why this capability is now becoming practical. His talk walked through the state of the technology, the recent advances that make narrowband satellite voice possible, and the work being done in 3GPP to support it. Soham began by introducing Skylo and its role in enabling direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity. Skylo works with a wide ecosystem that spans chipset vendors, device manufacturers, carriers and test equipment providers. The company promotes a hybrid approach that allows a single device and SIM to move seamlessly between terrestrial networks and Skylo’s satellite network whenever coverage is needed. A large number of consumer devices, including popular smartphones and smartwatches, already use Skylo’s services for satellite SOS and messaging, supported by a growing base of partners an...
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China’s Growing Constellations, Ambitions and the Future of Satellite Broadband

China is increasingly asserting its presence in the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband arena, with two major constellation programmes, one state-backed and one commercially driven, now under active deployment. The government’s strategic plan for global communications infrastructure includes the Guowang network, targeting as many as 13,000 satellites, and the municipally supported Qianfan, also known as “Thousand Sails,” which aims for around 15,000 satellites. As of November 2025, Guowang has exceeded 100 satellites in orbit following a launch of nine satellites on 10 November. The Qianfan project, by contrast, has deployed around 90 satellites to date, a fraction of its target for regional coverage by the end of 2025. Both networks face significant challenges including manufacturing scale-up, launch cadence, orbital debris and regulatory timelines, yet their evolution has direct implications for the future architecture of global broadband, the integration of satellite and terre...
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Wiliot and Royal Mail bring Ambient IoT to postal logistics

There has been a great deal of excitement around Ambient IoT and the idea of giving everyday objects the ability to sense their environment and communicate seamlessly. Wiliot has been one of the pioneers in this space, and its latest collaboration brings the technology into one of the UK's largest and most demanding logistics environments. Royal Mail has started using Wiliot’s digital tags across its network, becoming the first delivery operator globally to scale this technology. At the heart of the solution are Wiliot’s IoT Pixels, ultra-thin, sticker-like tags that function as tiny computing devices. They operate without batteries, drawing energy from surrounding radio waves. These miniature computers sense factors such as location, temperature and humidity and continuously stream data to the cloud. The result is real-time visibility without the need for manual scanning or integrated power sources. The connectivity layer relies on standard Bluetooth infrastructure. As tagged it...
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The State of Mobile Internet Coverage and Infrastructure 2025

Mobile internet has become the backbone of modern life, yet the latest GSMA report shows that progress is uneven. While billions enjoy fast 4G and 5G connections, hundreds of millions are still left outside the digital world entirely. The real challenge now is not just building networks but making them sustainable, affordable, and meaningful for the people who need them most. Connectivity has never been closer to universal, but the final stretch is proving to be the hardest. The GSMA’s latest report on 'The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025' paints a mixed picture of progress and persistent challenges in global mobile internet connectivity. While mobile broadband coverage has continued to expand and network quality is improving in many regions, significant gaps remain, particularly in the world’s most vulnerable communities. As of 2025, 96% of the world’s population lives within the footprint of a mobile broadband network. However, that still leaves around 300 millio...
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Boosting 5G Coverage with Transparent Antennas and Shared Infrastructure

We have looked at transparent antennas for a while now with my first post on the topic back in 2019. Since then this technology has matured immensely as I detailed in a blog post last year. Transparent antennas are no longer just experimental concepts but have reached the stage of commercial deployment, often combined with infrastructure sharing models to maximise efficiency and coverage. In Japan, infrastructure sharing has taken on special significance. The high cost of network deployment, limited availability of installation sites and the density of urban environments make it challenging for operators to expand coverage on their own. Shared infrastructure helps reduce duplication, control costs and speed up the roll-out of services. For readers unfamiliar with JTOWER , it is a Japanese company specialising in shared telecommunications infrastructure. JTOWER develops and manages towers and in-building solutions across Japan, with the goal of improving connectivity while reducing the...
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