Leading operator in the Middle East, du, Wednesday announced that it has successfully tested the first Internet-of-Things (IoT) network in the region. The operator has selected LoRa, a technology promoted by the LoRa Alliance, to enable IoT, machine-to-machine (M2M), Smart City and industrial applications.
The LoRa Alliance was formed early this year by major telecom vendors such as Cisco, IBM and by leading service providers such as Bouygues Telecom, KPN, SingTel, Proximus and Swisscom.
Blog Recap: The @LoRaAlliance Open House Meeting in Paris, France. http://t.co/1wMtqPhK9j #IoT #M2M #LoRa pic.twitter.com/S73qd1oiUa
— Stream Technologies (@StreamTechLtd) July 21, 2015
In March, Bouygues Telecom announced the commercial rollout of France’s first IoT network based on LoRa. Another European operator, Proximus, also unveiled its plans to launch LoRa-based IoT Network in major cities across Belgium this year.
Compared to a standard mobile network, the LoRa IoT network works on low power and supports long range transmission, prolonging battery life of sensors, making it both cost and energy efficient. The new LoRa-based IoT network can relay data from sensors countrywide, enabling smarter management of a vast array of city resources such as smart street lighting, waste management and parking.
du's latest move follows major network enhancements implemented by the Operator in the last year, including the successful installation and testing of Voice-over-LTE(VoLTE) over its commercial LTE network and the deployment of LTE Advanced (LTE-A) early this year.
Carlos Domingo, Senior Executive Officer, New Businesses & Innovation, du
This is a defining moment in the UAE’s Smart City transformation. We need a new breed of ‘sensor friendly’ network to establish the Smart City ecosystem - thanks to du, this capability now exists in the UAE.