Cellular companies, startups square off over 5G and the IoT

The emergence of the Internet of Things is pitting incumbent mobile network operators and infrastructure vendors against a small army of upstarts hoping to leverage newer, alternative technologies and business models created specifically for M2M and other non-consumer use cases. And that conflict was on display at FierceWireless's panel on 5G and the IoT this morning.

While traditional wireless networks have evolved to meet the data-heavy demands of smartphone and tablet users, many IoT devices will require low-data connectivity that may not even be continuous. Such devices may only need access every few days or weeks, and could stay in the field for years at a time without being touched by human hands.

Traditional cellular companies say those concerns could largely be addressed through 5G technologies, which will leverage various flavors of LTE that are in development, among many other things. But others disagree, saying other wireless technologies are better suited for such scenarios.