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Low Power Network - LoRaWAN: from Switzerland to the world

The Swisscom Low Power Network LPN now reaches 97% of the Swiss population. In the networked global world of the Internet of Things (IoT), our customers want data and things that do not stop at the Swiss border, but are global and borderless.

Low Power Network - LoRaWAN: from Switzerland to the world

Swisscom is working on this and has signed LPN roaming agreements with France, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Ireland and the United Kingdom until 2022. This will offer our customers a whole new connectivity experience, allowing them to view information about their machines, vehicles and objects in these countries from Switzerland on a single platform. No tedious roaming negotiations with individual countries, no different platforms, but a simplified and centralised management of networked devices; possible thanks to a growing global LPN LoRaWAN ecosystem that brings together the Swisscom Low Power Network LPN with foreign partner networks.

LPN roaming: Europe, then the world

Not all EU countries are yet as well covered as Switzerland. The LoRaWAN wireless data standard continues to gain ground internationally and more and more nationwide networks are being created around the world. Swisscom began the expansion in 2016 and has now reached around 97% (population coverage). France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Finland have a nationwide LPN similar to Switzerland, while Ireland and the United Kingdom are currently in the process of establishing nationwide LPNs. Further agreements with neighbouring countries, the Baltic states and Eastern Europe are planned for the coming years.

One partner, one platform

Enterprise IoT customers using LPN LoRaWAN in Switzerland previously had to conclude individual roaming contracts with the local network providers in countries where they wanted to be active with their products and services. Thanks to Swisscom's partner agreements, customers can now easily connect to the various networks from Switzerland. To do this, they extend the Enterprise IoT product with an LPN roaming option for the relevant countries. Customers save time and money. The devices and applications can be configured for the selected countries directly from the Swisscom portal. There is no need to negotiate a connectivity contract with each individual country and operate new platforms. Processes are simplified for customers and they benefit from a faster Go-to-Market.

Use cases in a nutshell - simplicity and speed

Industry: A Swiss supplier of water meters has equipped them with modules that determine how much water has been consumed. The modules use the Swiss LPN (LoRaWAN) wireless data network. Previously, if the provider wanted to sell these water meters to France, they had to search for a French LoRaWAN provider, sign a contract and configure a new platform, which involved effort and costs for the customer. Today, the customer activates the roaming option for the devices concerned in the Swisscom portal and sells their water meters in France; a simple and fast process.

Logistics: A transport company has installed a temperature monitoring system in its refrigerated lorries that communicates via the Low Power network. If such a lorry regularly travels to France, an LPN contract had to be concluded with a French provider for the temperature monitoring application abroad. Complex and tedious processes are replaced by a few mouse clicks in the Swisscom portal.

What is the Low Power Network (LPN) based on LoRaWAN technology?

The LPN is an independent radio data network and is specially designed for IoT applications that rely on long battery life. The transmission of small data packages ensures low power consumption and still warrants a long range.

Lars Brugger

Lars Brugger

Product Manager IoT Low Power Network

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