Nordic nRF93M1 LTE Cat-1 bis Cellular IoT Module Supports 10 Mbps LTE Connectivity

Nordic Semiconductor has launched the nRF93M1, a small LTE Cat-1 bis cellular module that must be used in IoT devices with strong needs for a reliable wide-area connection with moderate data throughput as compared to low-power LTE-M or NB-IoT offerings. The module will be deployed in data-intensive but medium-range IoT applications like asset tracking, industrial monitoring, gateways, and smart metering. It integrates support of low-power consumption and small size of Nordic with global LTE support, location capabilities, and cloud integration.

Pre-certified nRF93M1 modules aid in lowering development and expanding time-to-market durations of producers planning connected applications in the IoT. The module can support LTE Cat-1 bis, which has allowed the device to enable more networks and, at the same time, provide efficient power consumption to embedded systems.

nRF93M1 LTE Cat 1 bis Module 

LTE Cat-1 bis Connectivity

The nRF93M1 offers a cellular interface connection of LTE Cat-1 using Cat-1 bis standard, which is a modification of LTE Cat-1 that brilliantly fits most IoT devices with the single-antenna design. This will make hardware designing easy, and it will be cheaper than the conventional LTE implementations. This module provides global LTE frequencies between approximately 617 MHz and 2690 MHz, such that it can be deployed globally to cover most parts of the earth.

Performance-wise, the module can provide up to 10 Mbps downlink and 5 Mbps uplink data rates, by far exceeding such technologies of the LPWAN, such as NB-IoT. The performance of these speeds renders the module useful to applications that have to transfer data or update firmware more frequently.

The LTE Cat-1 bis is also sustaining satisfactory coverage, network reliability and with a relatively low power consumption, it can be used in battery-powered IoT products which still require moderate data transmission.

Inbuilt Location and Cloud Support

The integration of location capabilities can be regarded as one of the distinguishing characteristics of the nRF93M1 module. The device is capable of identifying the position through Wi-Fi scan, cell network-based positioning protocols like enhanced Cell ID (eCID). This enables the IoT devices to give location information even when not equipped with a specific GNSS receiver, and this decreases the complexity of the system and power consumption.

The module is also compatible with nRF Cloud, the cloud platform of Nordic Semiconductor, to manage devices and provide IoT services. With such a platform, the developers can use it to execute features like firmware-over-the-air ( FOTA ) updates, device monitoring, remote debugging, and location services. This ecosystem supports the streamlining of the development and maintenance of large-scale IoT deployments of large scale.

Interfaces and Hardware Characteristics

Various communication interfaces and peripheral options are provided in the nRF93M1 module, which enables it to interface with other embedded systems and microcontrollers easily. USB, UART, and general-purpose I/O interfaces can be easily connected to the current hardware designs.

It also has coexistence interfaces and other connectivity features, which allow it to interface with other wireless technologies in the same equipment. IT technologies such as PSM (Power Saving Mode) and eDRX (extended Discontinuous Reception) are used to minimize the use of energy in IoT implementations that are powered by a battery.

Also, the device is enabled by the latest SIM standards, such as eSIM and software-based SIM frameworks, which give flexibility to the manufacturers of connected devices that can be sold to the global markets.

nRF93M1 Development Kit

nRF93M1 Development Kit

The nRF93M1 Development Kit (DK) is a product created to assist developers in evaluating and prototyping apps with the nRF93M1 LTE Cat-1 bis Cellular module. The kit features the nRF93M1 device and other peripherals and interfaces to enable engineers to quickly test connectivity over cellular, as well as create IoT prototypes without creating their own hardware.

The nRF93M1 is responsible for providing cellular communication, whereas the nRF54L15 ultra-low-power microcontroller is the host MCU to execute user applications in the development kit. It is compatible with the Nordic nRF Connect SDK, which allows developers to create firmware and test network connectivity and cloud services to manage their devices and apply firmware over-the-air updates.

At the time of writing, the NRF93M1 cellular IoT module and the nRF93M1 Development Kit of Nordic Semiconductor are already lead-customer sampling available, and are widely expected to be more broadly available in mid-2026 via Nordic and their distributors. The company is not yet stating actual prices, and any interested developers should address Nordic Semiconductor or resellers in order to obtain evaluation samples and price information. You can visit the press release for more information.

Images used courtesy of Nordic Semiconductor