AT&T has confirmed reports that it will stop selling narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) data plans.

Initially revealed by RCRWireless earlier this week, AT&T told the publication it has begun the process to decommission its NB-IoT network in the US entirely.

A spokesperson confirmed the plans in a statement to DCD, noting that the carrier will move its business customers from its NB IoT network to its LTE-M network.

"We are improving our Internet of Things (IoT) services for business customers by moving from narrowband IoT to the LTE-M network. This change will provide more data capacity for both fixed and mobile devices," said the AT&T statement.

"As a result, we’ve stopped the certification of new NB-IoT devices and the sale of data plans utilizing the NB-IoT network. We’re working closely with customers to make this process as seamless as possible."

AT&T added that it expects to complete the decommissioning of the NB-IoT network technology as early as the first quarter of 2025.

The carrier launched its NB-IoT network in 2019, claiming at the time that the network was a "big step towards massive IoT and 5G."

AT&T launched its LTE-M network two years earlier. As of the second quarter of this year, AT&T reported that it has more than 117 million connected devices on its network.

The term, Internet of Things, was coined way back in 1985 by Peter T Lewis, two years after the Internet officially came into existence, and three years after a Coke machine in Carnegie Mellon University became the first connected "thing," on what was still called the ARPAnet, in 1982.

Lewis predicted IoT would operate connect devices and sensors, and over cellular networks - at a time when mobile phones were still much-prized rarities, the size of bricks.