SoftBank Japan will activate a low power wide area (LPWA) LoRa network to support future Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
The move illustrates a key issue when multiple new network platforms arrive at the same time: service providers often must bet on launching early or waiting for market standards to develop.
With multiple new mobile standards coming, and multiple LPWA platforms to choose from, most will fail to gain wide traction. The problem is, nobody knows now which platforms will win.
Not since the same issue–launching now with a non-standard WiMAX platform or waiting for a standardized 4G platform–have most mobile operators had to weigh a choice.
