Reengineering GSM/GPRS towards a dedicated network for massive smart metering

GSM is a synonym for a major success in wireless technology, achieving widespread use and high technology maturity. However, its future is questionable, as many stakeholders indicate that the GSM spectrum should be re-farmed for LTE. On the other hand, the advent of smart grid and the ubiquity of smart meters will require reliable, long-lived wide area connections. This motivates to investigate the potential of GSM to be evolved into a dedicated network for smart metering. We introduce simple mechanisms to reengineer the access control in GSM. The result is a system that offers excellent support for smart metering, as well as the other massive machine-to-machine traffic patterns that are envisioned in 3GPP.