After its first launch of LTE-M network in Belgium, MNO Orange announced launch of LTE-M network in France and they plan to launch it in Romania and Spain by the end of 2018. Also, LTE-M compatible devices will be listed on Orange’s marketplace for IoT devices and connectivity – Datavenue Market. This news wouldn’t be so interesting if Orange isn’t already national LoRaWAN operator in France. According to Orange there’s a room for coexistence of LoRaWAN and CIoT (Cellular IoT) like LTE-M and NB-IoT. They see LTE-M use cases in logistics, telemonitoring, remote assistance, fleet management but also they also look for a potential use cases in utilities (electricity, gas, water) and industry. While for LoRA, they see it as a right solution for those in need for very low battery consumption and inexpensive modules. I’m not certain that this business model will work since it brings conflict of interest to the stage, it will be expensive to support two similar technologies – for now they are saying it’s their way of offering the solution that fits to customer’s needs.
