In May, EchoStar announced the launch of an early adopter program for pan-European LoRa -Enabled IoT service
EchoStar Mobile, which provides mobile satellite services and is a subsidiary of EchoStar, says it has deployed a pan-European LoRa-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) network.
In a release, the company said that the new network operates in EchoStar Mobile’s licensed S-band spectrum from the EchoStar XXI satellite. The firm also said that this network is the first to offer bi-directional, real-time LoRa-enabled connectivity across Europe using a single network.
EchoStar Mobile said that the IoT network coverage provides multinational service continuity to meet the needs of mobility customers in sectors including utilities, transportation, railway, logistics and agritech.
Telemaco Melia, VP and GM of EchoStar Mobile, said: “The activation of our pan-European network, the largest, and first multinational, LoRa-enabled IoT network, is a significant milestone for EchoStar Mobile. We, along with dozens of partners participating in our early adoption program for LoRa, are evaluating prototype devices and testing the network with applications such as railway track monitoring, smart farming, utility monitoring and asset tracking in preparation for commercial service launch, which is on track for late 2022.”
EchoStar also highlighted that the low-power networking protocol LoRa has so far been largely dependent on the deployment of terrestrial infrastructure. However, the company said that the new EchoStar Mobile solution overcomes this hurdle, using a LoRa-enabled module that integrates into IoT devices to provide connectivity across Europe and allow sensors to send and receive information in real-time while on the move.
In May, the firm announced the launch of an early adopter program for pan-European LoRa-enabled IoT service. Under the program, participants in sectors such as transport and logistics, agriculture, oil and gas and utilities will test a satellite-enabled connectivity solution that leverages the LoRa low power protocol for connecting “things” to the internet.
The firm said that the EchoStar Mobile LoRa early adopter program will run through 2022 with commercial availability expected around the end of the year.
