SK Telecom has completed the deployment of a nationwide low-power wide area network (LPWAN) based on LoRa technology.
The network covers 99% of the population, and its deployment has been completed six months ahead of the initial schedule, the operator announced.
SK Telecom completed a nationwide LTE-M rollout in March, and is now in a position to fully support the emerging IoT industry.
To commercialize the network, SK Telecom has announced price plans for LoRaWAN-based IoT services ranging from 350 won ($0.30) per month per device for a 100kb allocation to 2,000 won for a 100MB allocation.
Discounts will be offered for multiple lines, ranging from 2% for those using 500 lines for 10% for those using 10,000 lines. Excess data will be charged at 0.005 won per 0.5KB.
SK Telecom noted that its LoRa plans cost just a tenth of the price of its LTE-based IoT services, which will help ease the cost burden for IoT startups and SMEs.
The operator also plans to develop its own LoRa-based services in the areas of metering, tracking and monitoring. Examples include an advanced metering infrastructure project for utilities companies and a tracking service to identify and track the location of vehicles, people and assets.
SK Telecom plans to launch a total of 20 LoRa-based services by the end of the year.
“SK Telecom is proud to announce the nationwide deployment of LoRaWAN as it marks the first important step towards realizing connectivity between infinite number of things, going beyond the traditional role of telecommunications centered on connectivity between people,” the operator's president of mobile networks Lee Hyung-hee said.
“Going forward, SK Telecom will develop and offer a wide variety of IoT services designed to offer new value for customers, while working closely with partners including SMEs and startups to vitalize the IoT ecosystem.”