by Webbing Team | September 3, 2025
Last year, we explained how cellular connectivity enables the smart grid. Now, it’s time to explore how cellular connectivity transforms the whole utilities sector.
When thinking about connectivity in utilities, we usually picture smart meters – probably the most widespread use case in every utility vertical. But usage scenarios are not limited to low-power and low-bandwidth smart meters. In fact, use cases are so diverse that many utility companies implement private networks tailored to specific devices to manage their requirements for latency, and speed.
These use cases are not just a niche add-on. Cellular networks, both public and private, are one of the primary engines of utilities’ digital transformation in the electric, water, and gas sectors. National programs are shifting to 4G and 5G to keep data from smart meters and grid data flowing as 2G/3G retire. Cellular connectivity also enables new, real-time operating models: utility companies are using mission-critical cellular networks to run protection and automation, as well as connect drones or cameras for inspection and maintenance purposes. The best proof that cellular connectivity is becoming foundational in the sector is that operators are moving beyond pilots to full private LTE core and RAN networks specifically for utility operations, like Lower Colorado River Authority in Texas.
Actually, cellular technology offers even more advanced capabilities than simply connecting IoT devices. In Australia, a public 5G network was turned into a macro-scale rainfall/flood sensor to aid the NSW State Emergency Service. The cutting-edge technology extracts precise weather details, such as rainfall, water levels, and river flows, by detecting minuscule environmental changes in wireless signals transmitted through 5G mobile networks.
Let’s take a look at how cellular connectivity is powering digital transformation in the utilities sector.
Smart Meters
Smart meters lead among all utility device types in deployment volume: in 2024, Transforma Insights forecast the global installed base to grow from 1.7 billion to 3.4 billion in the next 10 years. Between 2019 and 2023, the penetration of smart electricity meters in Europe rose from 50% to 60%, in North America from 65% to almost 80%. By 2027, it is forecast to exceed 76% and 90% respectively. The adoption of smart metering solutions in the gas and water segments is lagging in comparison to the electricity sector. Italy, the UK and France combined have installed around 47 million smart gas meters, and the market is growing particularly strongly in China and Japan. The smart water metering market is in an earlier phase of adoption but is poised for significant growth.
Most cellular-enabled smart meters today are connected using NB-IoT or LTE-M protocols, but the 5G segment is starting to grow and will constitute 33% of all connected meters by 2033, according to Transforma Insights. For example, Honeywell added 5G connectivity to its smart meters, so they could provide utility companies with information about energy usage and equipment performance. This data can be fed into utility management platforms, so operators could get a live picture of the system, better predict the next few hours of demand, and act sooner, shifting loads or dispatching maintenance crews to keep the grid reliable and resilient.
Infrastructure Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance
Along with smart meters, utility companies use cellular connectivity for a wide range of sensors to monitor service reliability, detect water or gas leaks, pressure drops and flow irregularities. For example, for a municipal water utility that faced several challenges with water distribution, high-precision pressure sensors were installed at key points throughout the city’s water distribution system. They were connected to a cellular network, allowing real-time processing of the pressure data, which helped to identify anomalies, spikes, and drops, and pinpoint potential leaks based on pressure variations and patterns, for early detection.
Cellular connectivity is also crucial for enabling predictive maintenance applications, where AI-powered systems can prevent breakdowns based on real-time data analysis.
Physical Security
Many utility companies have permanent remote sites where assets and infrastructure require 24/7 protection. Their security is a primary concern for utility companies, because intrusions or damage can have a huge impact on their services to customers. Since remote locations typically have no access to fixed infrastructure, cellular networks is the most practical way to connect cameras and access controls.
A good example is the Niagara Falls Water Board that has a significant amount of automated, unmanned process facilities, including water treatment plants, boosters, and water towers, deployed 4G connected cameras across their treatment facilities. Video is transmitted via the 4G LTE network for remote viewing and alerts.
Optimization
4G and 5G networks are key enablers of optimization that uses real-time telemetry and analytics to tune utility system settings to increase safety or efficiency. By combining cellular connectivity with edge logic, utilities can cut losses and create headroom without building new infrastructure.
E.g., in 2024-25, British gas distributor SGN completed a trial advanced pressure control project to reduce methane emissions from the gas grid. The system optimizes the network pressure by automatically adjusting it in response to real-time demand and weather conditions, while remote governor stations and data loggers are securely connected via a 4G network. The project resulted in a 16% methane emissions reduction using intelligent pressure control, with the gas distribution governor pressure safely reduced by up to 31%.
Connectivity Requirements for Utilities Applications
Depending on the type of equipment, its role in the distribution system and the specific utility vertical, connectivity requirements may vary, but there are some common demands that are relevant to most use cases.
Reliability
Utility systems, as critical services, must remain connected even during faults and disasters – or a maintenance windows. Cellular networks are a good choice in that regard, for they are ubiquitous, and usually there are several mobile operators in any region, so technically IoT devices can stay online even when one of the networks is down or the connection to it is unstable. This is the reason why cellular connectivity is used as a backup even by devices connected to the fixed infrastructure, but it’s important to make sure that your connectivity solution supports multiple networks.
Latency
Some devices, like smart meters, do not require particularly low latency. Monitoring applications can tolerate seconds, but all data related to control or protection needs minimal latency for obvious reasons. Just like in electricity automation must react instantly to prevent faults from cascading, in water and gas, emergency shut-offs must act quickly to avoid over-pressure, water hammer, bursts, and methane release.
Technically, cellular networks, 5G in particular, can provide latency as low as 1 ms, but in reality, it depends on your connectivity provider’s core network architecture. Before going to its destination, data travels to the provider’s data center, so the further away it is from you physically, the longer the latency.
Scalability
Utility companies typically don’t deal with a few new endpoints, they add thousands or even hundreds of thousands of devices spread over cities or wide rural areas, all with different reporting cadences. Besides, network’s scaling capabilities guarantee that traffic spikes won’t become an issue. Post-storm recoveries or a staged firmware update wave can create traffic spikes (e.g., updating 100,000 devices at 5 MB each is 500 GB of burst load), so critical telemetry and control traffic can get squeezed exactly when you need it most.
Webbing’s Connectivity Solution for The Utilities Sector
Webbing offers a connectivity solution that ensures access to reliable and high-quality internet, with low latency and the best of class coverage. It provides secure and continuous internet connection, delivering a streamlined, centralized, and scalable means of deploying, controlling and monitoring IoT devices used in utility systems.
Webbing’s connectivity solutions guarantee global coverage, and through our ecosystem of over 600 mobile operators worldwide, devices can roam seamlessly across multiple carriers’ networks in every region. It solves the problem of weak spots that any mobile network may have and ensures full coverage and continuous connectivity for all devices, even at remote locations.
Webbing is a global connectivity provider, with a distributed full-core network with local breakouts, multiple network solution, and data server redundancy that can provide connectivity stability and low latency. As such, Webbing’s network is well suited to support all types of use cases, including mission-critical and high-data consumption.
Combined with remote eSIM provisioning capabilities, our network can guarantee compliance with all local and regional connectivity regulation requirements – from IP traffic that remains in the country to local carrier profiles downloaded over-the-air for full localization.
Our eSIM solution is fully aligned with the GSMA SGP.32 IoT eSIM specification and supports the new IoT standard. It allows for remote provisioning and an automatic swap between multiple mobile carrier profiles as well as ensures failover connectivity with the option to fall back from a failing profile to a different profile without any need to communicate with a remote server.
Our solutions help enterprises overcome their connectivity problems and reduce time to market for global deployments, providing the benefits of roaming with multiple carrier options in every country, and seamless transition between carriers, while maintaining low rates and low latency on a global scale with a single SIM.
Reach out today to learn how Webbing’s customizable solutions can help tackle any connectivity challenges in your utility projects.
