China's telecom gurus have pledged to uphold the development of the Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), an emerging but fast-growing technology that enables the connection of billions of electronic appliances, shared bikes and street lamps into the internet and allows for a handy retrieval of the massive trove of data generated.

With the technology projected to support more than half of all IoT connections, China is already at the forefront in terms of network launches, grooming ecosystem developer partners and drawing up industry standards, said Wen Ku, head of the information and communication development department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

"NB-IoT, thanks to its wide-coverage, low-throughput and delay-tolerant nature, is a major source to realize interconnectivity among the likes of metering facilities and parking lots," Wen told a forum during the 2017 World Internet of Things Exposition on Monday in Wuxi, Jiangsu province.

A senior citizen experiences smart fitness devices during the 2017 World Internet of Things Exposition in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

He predicted that application scenarios of NB-IoT could reach hundreds and even thousands in the future, up from only about 30 since China embarked on the technology just two years ago.

China Telecommunications Corp, the country's third largest mobile carrier, has doubled down on the technology via a nationwide rollout of nationwide NB-IoT networks, the first of its kind globally.