Tencent calls LoRaWAN an ‘essential’ IoT technology
The LoRa Alliance welcomed internet valued-added services provider Tencent Holdings into its association today, receiving further backing for its LoRaWAN standard. This announcement follows Tencent’s significant investment in technology and applications for LoRaWAN, with the company looking to push further developments in the future using the network standard.
With LPWAN IoT pilots being deployed across China from companies such as Semtech and Dr Peng Group, projections for China’s IoT market are “significant”, according to Donna Moore, CEO and chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance.
“LoRaWAN is very well positioned in the LPWAN space,” she explains. “And having Tencent join the LoRa Alliance is very valuable for our ecosystem and strengthens our presence in the Asia-Pacific region.”
During Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2018, Tencent launched a new test lab in Shenzhen with Nokia, researching into 5G-enabled IoT applications for industry verticals. It also announced plans to build a LoRaWAN network in Shenzhen with local partners. This network will provide solutions for “a variety of IoT applications and end users, such as government and public services,” according to the company.
Hongtao Bie, vice president of Tencent Technologies, spoke about the impact that LPWANs are having on China: “It is clear that LPWANs are essential for the IoT technology and applications, and the market is quickly growing in China, especially in areas like government public services, industry manufacturing, and personal IoT devices.
One of the main challenges for the IoT is that use cases vary greatly depending on the application, with different types of devices being connected that must interoperate. Security and reliability represent another challenge for application deployment. According to Tencent, the LoRaWAN protocol “offers flexibility in deployment models, proven bi-directional security, low cost and high efficiency,” which it believes has enabled the successful deployments of IoT solutions from device to cloud.
However, Huixing Wang, vice president of Cloud at the company, pointed out that LoRaWAN is complementary to Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) in the LPWAN: “LoRaWAN has seen rapid growth and joining the alliance will allow us to influence LoRaWAN development, advance IoT adoption, and build close partnerships with other LoRaWAN vendors around the world.”
Tencent and LoRa Alliance are attending the IOTE event alongside other LoRa partners.
