Japanese telco Softbank has announced plans to launch a LoRaWAN low powered wide area radio network for IoT in the current 2016 fiscal year and offer end-to-end IoT solutions, ranging from device and application support to consulting.
Softbank says that, by using its comprehensive network lineup that includes 3G/LTE, WiFi and fixed-line, it will be able to offer IoT solutions that meet differing customer preferences.
In anticipation of the coming full-fledged IoT era, SoftBank says it will aim to deploy the full set of LPWA networks, including LoRaWAN, Cat-M1 and NB-IoT, to ensure that it can efficiently comply with differing environments.
For its LoRaWAN network it is partnering with LoRaWAN networking company Actility, Hon Hai Precision Industry company, the world's largest electronics manufacturing services provider, according to Softbank, and Semtech Corporation, a pioneer of LoRaWAN technology.
'SoftBank will work to realize an IoT environment for industry sectors that require low cost and low power network construction: equipment monitoring/control at commercial facilities, buildings, warehouses and other facilities, automated gas and water meter reading, senior citizen and child monitoring, infrastructure monitoring (roads, tunnels, rail tracks, etc.) and logistics and fleet management (cars, trucks and buses),' the company said.
