US cable operator Cox Communications made a major play for a slice of the IoT market with the deployment of what it claimed is the largest number of assets on a commercial low power wide area (LPWA) network in North America.

Cox said automobile auction company Manheim will use its asset tracking technology to keep tabs on the locations of more 500,000 vehicles in its auction lots across the US and Canada. Automotive brands are also considering Cox’s IoT network for other applications, the company added.

The announcement came as part of the launch of Cox2M, a new connected asset services business the operator said will allow commercial customers to connect and monitor “nearly any asset, anywhere”. Cox’s product bundle includes connectivity, hardware and software, as well as analytics and machine learning capabilities.

A company representative told Mobile World Live (MWL) Cox had been testing, evaluating and/or deploying a variety of LPWA protocols for the service, including NB-IoT and LTE-M on licensed spectrum as well as RPMA, LoRa and Sigfox for unlicensed spectrum. The technology deployed depends on the customer’s needs, the representative added.

Smart things play
Cox already serves more than 6 million people and businesses through its broadband footprint but Sujata Gosalia, EVP and CSO, said in a statement the company is looking to “play an even more significant role in supporting the smart businesses and smart cities of the future”. Specifically, Cox pointed to transportation and fleet management, connected cities and campuses, utility monitoring, agriculture, retail and real estate as target verticals.

The company will be competing for customers with top US wireless operators, which have all launched their own IoT and smart cities initiatives. The Cox representative told MWL it plans to focus its efforts on geographic areas where it has existing relationships and brand equity.

But it won’t be the only outsider making an IoT play: satellite operator Dish Network revealed it plans to launch an NB-IoT network as the first phase of a two-part strategy to break into wireless.