Ooredoo Tunisia and Sagemcom have just launched the first Tunisian Internet of Things (IoT) network, based on LoRa™ technology. The network enables devices to exchange small amounts of data, with a standard battery providing independent battery life of up to 10 years.
This IoT network will also facilitate the development of solutions in various areas: Smart City (smart parking, presence detection, etc.), Smart Industry (machines predictive maintenance, asset management and tracking, logistics, etc.), Smart Environment (fire detection, etc.) and other uses in health, transport, agriculture, etc.
This launch will strengthen Ooredoo's activities in the Internet of Things. 'Following the marketing of the first connected device in 2014, the launch of the first M2M managed connectivity solution in 2015 and the success of the first tests on various long-range, lowconsumption technologies, Ooredoo is today launching the first IoT network in Tunisia. This has been made possible through the license issued by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies in June,' said Youssef El Masri, CEO of Ooredoo Tunisia. 'We are proud to be the first operator in Tunisia to deploy this technology, which is globally recognised as the most successful Internet of Things solution,' he added.
Sagemcom believes that 'this close collaboration with Ooredoo will reinforce both our vision and strategy for the Industrial Internet of Things, through our SICONIA™ products and solutions, and our long-term presence and support in Tunisia and in the wider region'. Eric Rieul, CEO of Sagemcom Energy & Telecom, also stressed that 'Sagemcom is delighted to be able to support and expedite Ooredoo's IoT ambitions in Tunisia, thus contributing to the country's economic growth.'
Why was LoRaWAN™ technology chosen?
Sagemcom selected LoRaWAN™ standard for the following of competitive advantages:
- It is bidirectional, allowing sensors to not only transmit information (uplink direction), but to receive it as well (downlink direction).
- It can offer, thanks to its combination of different types and categories of sensors (Classes A, B, C), many added value services to the industry.
- It natively allows passive geolocation of things, without requiring any embedded GPS into objects (too much energy-consuming).
- The network can adapt the Spreading Factor (SF) (resulting thus into throughput adaptation), then the radio transmit power, but also the packet retransmission depending on the local radio conditions of each end-point. Thus, the higher the density of network antennas, the higher capacity the network will experience.
- Optimizing bandwidth and power also helps minimizing energy consumption at the end-points: with such regulated power consumption, the objects experience a longer battery life.
LoRaWAN ™ is an open standard, which interoperability is achieved in one hand thanks to a standardized certification process, conducted by independent renown laboratories, and in the other hand thanks to clear public open specifications, backward compatible, following a clear roadmap managed within a strong and diverse industrial alliance, which perpetuates deployments & investment, and ensures a constant high quality innovation over the long term.