By James Blackman June 19, 2024
Switzerland-based mobile operator Swisscom is working with French IoT stalwart Actility and Irish satellite IoT company EchoStar Mobile to expand its LoRaWAN IoT footprint across Europe. EchoStar Mobile will provide capacity to support direct sensor-to-satellite operations, and Actility will provide interworking functions between Swisscom’s terrestrial IoT network and EchoStar Mobile’s satellite IoT network. This will enable network roaming through Actility’s ThingPark Exchange roaming hub.
Until now, Swisscom has relied entirely on terrestrial IoT connectivity to provide managed solutions for smart metering, environmental monitoring, asset tracking, smart agriculture, and smart building use cases. The addition of satellite connectivity via EchoStar Mobile, integrated with its terrestrial setup via Actility’s roaming hub, means its enterprise customers can roam more widely across the continent, including into terrestrial block-spots and not-spots where LoRaWAN coverage has been unavailable.
EchoStar Mobile is building a pan-European IoT network based on the LoRa technology, pitching a direct-to-satellite IoT network solution for a range of industries and applications. The new deal with Swisscom is for “multi-year IoT satellite connectivity services”, it said. Telemaco Melia, general manager at the firm, said its satellite IoT service will help Swisscom sell IoT in “more verticals and geographies”. All three companies talked about the promise of “borderless” IoT with the addition of satellite connectivity to standard terrestrial comms.
Fredy Portmann, head of connected business solutions at Swisscom, said: “Satellite connectivity serves as a powerful complement to our terrestrial LoRaWAN network, enabling the connection of IoT devices abroad and also in economically challenging rural areas… Through integration of EchoStar connectivity into our [management platform], we empower… a truly borderless IoT connectivity. This dynamic synergy expands the reach of our network, unlocking… opportunities for businesses in a seamlessly connected world.”
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