The GSMA today launched its “Mobile IoT Initiative”, a new project designed to address the use of Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) solutions in licenced spectrum.

A group of 26 companies will work together under the initiative to accelerate the commercial availability of mobile IoT technology by “facilitating demonstrations, proof of concepts and trials of a selection of complimentary LPWA licenced spectrum technologies”.

Backers include leading mobile operators, OEMs, chipset, module and infrastructure companies. AT&T, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Huawei, Qualcomm and Vodafone are among some of the high profile names.

In a statement, the GSMA added the group will also provide analysis and feedback to assist industry body 3GPP in standardising the technologies.

LPWA networks are designed for M2M applications with low data rates, long battery lives and that operate unattended for long periods of time. According to analyst firms Analysys Mason, Machina Research and Strategy Analytics, LPWA connections will reach 2.7 billion by 2022.

“LPWA will be a significant driver in the development of the Internet of Things and its essential for the industry to address the requirements for the solution early on,” said Alex Sinclair, acting director general and CTO at the GSMA.

“The industry is clearly united behind the mobile IoT initiative, providing a common vision to accelerate the availability of industry standard solutions, removing market fragmentation and accelerating adoption.”

Initial specifications for the solution will be completed by the end of this year, with first implementation set for early 2016, and a full commercial rollout following later in the year.

As a single technology is not capable of addressing all LPWA use cases, the GSMA said the initiative will focus on three proposed complimentary licenced 3GPP standards, including LTE evolutions, GSM evolutions and ‘Clean Slate’ technologies.