Orange goes LoRa to connect French smart cities

As smart cities push to standardize their Internet of Things (IoT) networks, mobile and internet operator Orange SA has chosen the LoRa wireless protocol for its deployments across France.

An article in Electronics Weekly says the Paris-based telecom giant’s decision to use the LoRaWAN  protocol marks a pivotal deployment of IoT technology for smart cities across France. Orange’s decision follows pilot testing of the LoRa wireless standard in long range wide-area networks in Grenoble, France.

See also: Can LPWA unchain wearables from smartphones?

To add to the alphabet soup of wireless networks, LoRaWAN  is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) which is being pursued as a new standard by various industry actors in order to improve IoT efficiencies, cut costs and reduce energy use.

“The development of the internet of things is expected to surge in the coming years. As a part of our new Essentials2020 strategic plan and the announcement of our France-wide LoRaWAN network, we have decided to take an active role in driving the success of the LoRa Alliance,” Orange executive vice president Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière. “LoRaWAN is complementary to our overall strategy for internet of things.”

A nonprofit association, the LoRa Alliance aims to standardize LPWAN technology’s global deployment. It says the standardized network technology will facilitate smart city projects, IoT, industrial applications and machine-to-machine use.

Orange squeezes onto LoRa board

As well as adopting the LoRa technology Orange will also join the LoRa Alliance Board alongside such members as IBM, Cisco, Semtech and Bouygues Telecom.

“Having Orange join the Alliance is a testament to the strong global ecosystem, with over 300 member companies, the Alliance has built in just the past year,” said LoRa Alliance chair Geoff Mulligan.

Orange said the LoRa IoT network, which it use to link low power sensor nodes, will be cheaper than employing its existing cellular network in its smart city push.

An openly available specification, the LoRaWAN protocol offers its own ecosystem and certified secure interoperability. It is competing with a number of wireless interface standards to become the industry standard protocol for IoT applications.

Orange a leading operator of internet and mobile services in Europe and Africa.

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