Vodafone UK announced its low power wide area NB-IoT network had reached almost full nationwide coverage, as it looks to cater to increasing demand from enterprise customers implementing the technology across the country.

The operator stated it had doubled the number of sites in its NB-IoT rollout to cover 98 per cent of the UK geography, with demand increasing across industries to support a number of use cases.

It explained the network technology enables “efficient communication” across wide geographical footprints, and supports long battery life and reduced costs, elements making it sought after for industrial and commercial metering, water monitoring, asset tracking and smart city applications including air quality checks.

Vodafone added the network was already being used by customers across multiple industries, including SES Water and United Utilities to detect leaks in underground and other infrastructure.

Business director Anne Sheehan explained NB-IoT coverage going beyond the operator’s traditional footprint is an advantage because it was specifically designed for devices with lower bandwidth requirements.

“For use cases, where lower signal is sufficient, Vodafone’s NB-IoT network will exceed 98 per cent of geographical coverage both indoor and outdoor. For stronger signal requirements, it reaches 87 per cent of geographical coverage.”

Sheehan added NB-IoT was a part of its network “that is often overlooked”, but it is becoming increasingly important bringing data from a growing variety of devices to power decision-making in more organisations.

Vodafone also runs NB-IoT networks in a number of European countries, including Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain.