For instance, efficient sharing of the random-access resources is very difficult in an LTE network with many smart objects, as identified by the authors in [10], who propose to differentiate the medium access control rules for machines and humans.
However, the major impediments of LTE to an efficient M2M communication (see [11] for a thorough description) disappear when the UE is co-located with the gateway, rather
than with the smart objects themselves. Hence, at least in principle, exploiting LTE as an access network technology for IoT applications is an opportunity to be considered by
telecom and service operators, due to its (future) pervasive diffusion and the advantages it brings.