Netherlands beats South Korea in rolling out national Internet of Things network

Switched-on Dutch telco KPN plans to connect millions of devices across the country

The Netherlands looks to have beaten South Korea in the race to build a national Internet of Things (IoT) network with the news that Dutch telecoms company KPN has switched on its IoT network this week.

KPN's network reportedly covers the whole country - a smaller land mass to cover than South Korea's - and will be used to connect tens of millions of embedded devices.

"As from today the KPN LoRa network is available throughout the Netherlands," claimed the company in an announcement. LoRa is a standard for long range radio, as specified by the LoRa Alliance, set up to promote wide area networks for IoT.

The network had initially gone live in Rotterdam and The Hague in November 2015, with the rollout over the rest of the Netherlands brought forward due to "substantial customer interest", according to KPN.

"The easily accessible LoRa network makes it simple to develop smart applications and to optimize processes and services. KPN has already contracted 1.5 million devices that will be connected to the LoRa network. This number is expected to grow rapidly now that the network is available in the whole of the Netherlands.

"In the months ahead KPN will further optimise the LoRa network by condensing the network; the much-requested localisation functionality will become available too," claimed the company.

KPN chief operating officer Joost Farwerck suggested that the network had been rolled out in less than a year. The company's LoRa network supplements existing 2G, 3G and 4G networks that, KPN claims, cuts costs and power consumption for devices connecting to its network. "KPN has equipped hundreds of existing mobile transmission towers across the Netherlands with a LoRa gateway and antenna, allowing millions of devices to be connected," claims the company.

The company claims that it has contracts for some 1.5 million devices already utilising its LoRa network. These include devices embedded in the baggage handling system at The Netherlands' huge Schiphol Airport, depth sounders in the port of Rotterdam and rail switches at Utrecht Central Station.