Various features presented herein facilitate early data transmission (EDT) in eMTC and NB-IoT. In certain aspects, a UE (e.g., an eMTC and/or NB-IoT type device), may receive an indication in a SIB from a base station that may enable EDT by the UE. The UE may transmit a random access request based on the SIB. The UE may further receive an MCS index in an RAR, and transmit a connection request (e.g., Msg3) to the base station based on the MCS index and the indication in the SIB. Some aspects described herein relate to an improved rate matching technique. In certain aspects, a UE may be configured to transmit a connection request message to a base station based on at least one of an increased number of RVs than a number of RVs for other transmissions from the UE or rate matching performed across more than one subframe.