Samsung to deploy dedicated Internet of Things network, allies with SK Telecom

Samsung Electronics announced a new contract with SK Telecom to deploy the world’s first commercial Internet of Things (IoT) dedicated LoRaWAN network across Korea. The network will be deployed across Korea using the 900 MHz frequency band. The commercial service is scheduled to launch in Daegu, Korea’s fourth largest city, next month and will be available nationwide by the middle of this year, informs Samsung. Daegu will serve as a test bed for the IoT network, and focus on setting up and adopting infrastructure for renewable energy solutions, cloud platforms and big data analytics of healthcare and medical services, as well as electric vehicle infrastructure for autonomous cars, shares Samsung in a statement. The tech giant cites the example of how streetlights in the city will collect weather and traffic information using IoT sensors, enabling cost savings by automatically adjusting the lighting level and also sending air pollution status information. Lee Jong-bong, Executive Vice President and Head of Infra Division at SK Telecom said, “SK Telecom will continue to work closely with partners including Samsung to deliver new value and convenience to both individual and enterprise customers over the IoT network.” “Now is a critical moment for ICT companies looking for new future business opportunities such as IoT services,” said Youngky Kim, President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “We are very pleased to partner with SK Telecom for its pioneering IoT vision. Samsung will contribute in creating the ecosystem for enabling significant changes driven by new IoT services.” Samsung informs in the statement that LoRaWAN IoT networks use an unlicensed, public spectrum called the Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) frequency band. To prevent degradation of other industrial communications already using the ISM band, the network will support the Listen Before Talk (LBT) function. A new service model, the Internet of Small Things (IoST), will also be introduced as a key facilitator for more business opportunities utilising the Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) like LoRaWAN. LPWAN is a group of technologies optimised to transmit small amounts of data at very low speeds of below 5Kbps, says Samsung.