SK Telecom to Support LoRaWAN

Among important mobile service provider network initiatives, 5G gets the most media attention. Methods of bonding Long Term Evolution spectrum across carriers, or bonding LTE with Wi-Fi, tend to get less attention.

But there’s also LoRaWAN, a low-power wide area network intended to support Internet of Things and machine-to-machine devices and services.

SK Telecom now is the first Asia-based mobile service provider to join the LoRa Alliance (http://lora-alliance.org),  the group working to create a new protocol to enable the Internet of Things (IoT).

LoRaWAN uses spread spectrum technology to support data rates range from 0.3 kbps to 50 kbps and provide long battery life.

SK Telecom plans to develop meters using the protocol, and launch trial services such as location monitoring and smart street light control solutions.