IoT Nets Eye LoRa, NB-IoT

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SAN JOSE, Calif., Jul. 23, 2019 – 

Move over, LoRa and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT); two new competitors see a space that you are missing. Iota Communications and Anterix are buying spectrum in the 800- to 900-MHz bands to create new licensed networks for the Internet of things.

The two rivals are leveraging work at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to reorganize part of the sub-gigahertz spectrum. Both Iota, focused on building automation, and Anterix, targeting utilities, have significant spectrum holdings already and financing in progress, but neither has networks up and running yet.

It's early days for both companies, which are still defining their service-level products. For that reason, they have not come on the radar for analysts who cover the low-power, wide-area networks (LPWANs) that LoRa and NB-IoT currently dominate and where the HaLow version of Wi-Fi is debuting this year.

LoRa uses unlicensed 800- to 900-MHz bands, which is inexpensive but subject to interference and requires users to set up their own networks. Narrowband-IoT, a low-cost version of LTE, typically uses higher frequencies with less range and penetration than the ISM bands.

"There's an untapped market [for robust 800- to 900-MHz IoT network services that] we can address," said Terrence DeFranco, chief executive and co-founder of Iota.

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