Long range wide area networking (LoRaWAN), a communications system for connecting internet of things (IoT) devices at long distances, has been formally approved as a standard by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies.
It is a big move for the technology as it was originally developed as an open standard and slowly grew to be deployed in more than 155 mobile operator networks and is available in more than 170 countries.
The standard, named Recommendation ITU-T Y.4480, is for low power protocols for wide area wireless networks and is under the responsibility of Study Group 20 of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector for IoT and smart cities and communities.
“LoRaWAN was developed as an open standard from the very beginning, which was recognized by the LPWAN community and demonstrated by its rapid global adoption as the LPWAN for IoT,” said Donna Moore, CEO and chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance. “We undertook this endeavor with ITU-T to have LoRaWAN formally documented as an international standard by an independent authority because of our commitment to openness and standardization — which are critical to achieving the interoperability needed for massive scaling. The transposition as an ITU-T Recommendation validates the market’s decision to adopt LoRaWAN as an internationally recognized standard and sets the stage for even more growth.”
The LoRa Alliance has been pushing for the ITU to recognize the technology as a standard for IoT communication through much of 2021. The ITU assembles experts around the world to develop international standards, which act as defining elements in the global infrastructure of ICTs.