AT&T Retiring NB-IoT Network as T-Mobile & Verizon Continue Support

AT&T has announced plans to decommission its NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) network by the first quarter of 2025, as it shifts its IoT strategy toward LTE-M to support greater data capacity and flexibility. The carrier has already stopped certification of new NB-IoT devices and is no longer offering NB-IoT data plans. Existing customers are being assisted with migrating to LTE-M.

NB-IoT was launched by AT&T in 2019 as part of its IoT portfolio, complementing LTE-M which it introduced in 2017. While NB-IoT excels in low-power, stationary sensor use cases with long battery life and minimal data demands, its limitations in sharing spectrum and its narrow bandwidth have made it less efficient for operators needing to optimise network resources.

Analysts note that NB-IoT has seen its strongest adoption in China, where large-scale deployments and subsidies for chipsets have lowered costs. In Western markets, however, uptake has lagged, and many operators are favouring alternatives with more flexible capabilities.

Despite AT&T's exit, T-Mobile and Verizon say they have no current plans to retire their NB-IoT networks. T-Mobile maintains that NB-IoT serves fixed, low-power use cases such as smart meters and environmental sensors. Verizon similarly emphasises NB-IoT's suitability for delay-tolerant, stationary IoT sensors using its 700 MHz LTE network.

Other IoT options like LTE-M (also called Cat-M or Cat-1) and/or RedCap are gaining traction. LTE-M provides higher bandwidth, over-the-air updates, and better support for mobility. RedCap aims to bring some of the benefits of 5G to IoT devices under lower cost and complexity.