SK Telecom aims to form a global roaming network for Internet of Things (IoT) services that will be based on the LoRa IoT network that it rolled out recently across the nation. The Operator is collaborating with several European operators to realize its vision of enabling global IoT services such as luggage tracking. The initiative is also part of the Korean government's national policy research projects.
The Operator is reported to have participated in a meeting in Nice, France, this week to discuss partnerships for establishing an international roaming system for the LoRa network connecting Korea and Europe
"We will actively share our knowhow obtained while establishing and commercializing the LoRa network nationwide with partners at home and abroad, contributing to a global IoT ecosystem," said Park Jin-hyo, SK Telecom's network R&D center senior vice president. It plans to meet officials from the LoRa Alliance in Berlin next week to discuss the matter.
Earlier this month, SK Telecom announced that it has completed the nationwide deployment of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) based on LoRa technology. The Operator also launched price plans for LoRa-based IoT services and new offerings in specific IoT verticals.
The Operator claims that its LoRa IoT network across the country was completed at the end of last month, six months earlier than its initial schedule, covering 99 percent of the population. It has also completed nationwide LTE-M rollout in March this year. By securing both nationwide LTE-M and LoRaWAN, which are the two main pillars of the IoT network, SK Telecom said that it is now fully ready to create valuable business opportunities in the IoT era.
