Now that cellular standards for low power wide area networking (LPWAN), such as NB-IoT, are commercialized, there is a powerful incentive for the alternative technologies, many in unlicensed spectrum, to present a more unified alternative. Currently, systems like Sigfox, LoRa, Telensa and Weightless are longer established than NB-IoT (though GSM is the standard with the biggest installed base), but they are siloed and fragmented. Yet for all the advantages of licensed spectrum in terms of assured performance and availability, the broad world of machine-to-machine services does need a strong platform which can be deployed by non-MNOs in licence-exempt bands. A standards effort by ETSI this year could finally provide that, or at least bring together several of the similar but…