KPN announced that it is on track to complete nationwide deployment of a LoRa-based Internet of Things (IoT) network by June after expanding coverage throughout western Holland, an area known as the Randstad.
The Dutch operator said the first applications based on its LoRa IoT network are now live in south and north Holland, and parts of Utrecht, Zeeland, north Brabant, and Groningen. KPN added that it is preparing to hold road shows throughout the country to educate potential customers on the benefits of LoRa and IoT ahead of the nationwide completion of the network.
Jasper Snijder, EVP of new business at KPN, said the operator plans to leverage its LoRa network to become a major player in markets including connectivity and data management, and that the road shows will highlight "IoT applications that offer great insight and action."
Partner companies participating in KPN's LoRa demonstrations include Anybridge, Things Connected, Metatronics, I-Real, I-Tude, and Mic-O-Data.
One such demonstration was conducted at Schiphol Airport this week, and covered processes including baggage handling and facility services.
Christiaan Hen, innovation manager at Schiphol, said it is essential that the airport "experiment constantly with new technologies and applications" to determine which will offer the most value to the airport in a push towards digitisation.
KPN is the latest operator in EMEA territories to pick LoRa as its technology of choice for IoT, following Orange and du.
However, as our newly published special report on IoT technologies notes, LoRa is just one of several proprietary technologies vying for a slice of the nascent LPWA market. LoRa faces competition from Sigfox and Ingenu, which in turn are facing off against cellular-based technologies including EC-GSM, NB-IoT, and LTE Cat-M1.
Machina Research in January predicted that at least one major LPWA technology will fall by the wayside in 2016, and that it expects to see no more than two mainstream deployments of non-3GPPP LPWA networks per country.
For more:
- see this KPN announcement (in Dutch)
Related articles:
Sigfox partners with Altice in France, as Arqiva adds UK LPWA reseller
Swisscom backs LoRa in plans for nationwide IoT network
TIM teams with Huawei to accelerate NB-IoT technology development
Machina Research: 'At least one' major LPWA technology to fall by wayside in 2016
Orange to build LoRa-based IoT network from 2016