LPWA Case Study Analysis

This report provides an overview of the different applications and industries that are leveraging Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies. It includes details of the adoption of LPWA solutions, based on their use case as well as geography. In some places our analysis is further divided into specific LPWA technologies that are being used in different cases. The report identifies the key opportunity areas for LPWA solutions and highlights the major applications for LPWA in different industries. Additionally, the report includes a detailed overview of the adoption of LPWA by different verticals, key vendors supporting the deployments, and regional adoption of the technology.

The report is the summary of a comprehensive survey of Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies, which for the purposes of our analysis we have defined to include NB-IoT, LTE-M, LoRa, and Sigfox. LPWA, or Low Power Wide Area, refers to a category of wireless communication technologies designed to support connectivity for IoT devices, and which benefit from low power consumption requirements whilst supporting connectivity potentially over a wide geographic area. They can support a connectivity experience that is very similar to traditional cellular services, i.e., a long-range connection to a device, but differ in the sense that they have been optimised to support machine-type communications: small messages, generally sent infrequently, and for which low-latency is not a critical requirement. For IoT connections, these technologies often prove to be much cheaper and more suitable options in comparison to using more consumer-focussed (and higher bandwidth) cellular technologies since IoT devices are often low-cost sensors that do not require frequent or high bandwidth data connections and for which longer battery life can be a significant benefit.

The aim of this report is to provide a detailed analysis of Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies with a keen focus on the region of deployment, major use cases, and key industry verticals in which these connectivity technologies are being implemented. In this report, we analyse the different regions across the globe that are leading the adoption of LPWA technologies of different types and the specific IoT applications that are driving this adoption. The analysis considers all types of applications, client industries, regions, and industry verticals as defined by Transforma Insights in our IoT TAM (Total Addressable Market) forecasts.

The findings of this report are based on a wide-ranging secondary research analysis of case studies of LPWA deployments across all sectors, including an analysis of the case studies included in Transforma Insights’ Best Practice & Vendor Selection Case Study Database and other case studies available through public sources. This combined LPWA database includes approaching one-thousand case studies that collectively illustrate how LPWA technologies can impact enterprises in all sectors.

The major LPWA connectivity technologies analysed in this report include:

• NB-IoT: NB-IoT is a cellular technology standardised by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It provides a narrowband communication channel for efficient data connection to IoT devices and is suitable for applications with low to moderate data rate requirements. It was initially a part of the 3GPP LTE (‘4G’) standard and has since been homologated into 5G as a part of 5G mMTC.
• LTE-M: LTE-M is also a 3GPP cellular technology that was initially part of the LTE (‘4G’) standard and has since been homologated into 5G as part of 5G mMTC. It offers a higher data rate compared to NB-IoT and is better-suited for applications that demand more bandwidth, such as firmware updates for IoT devices. Technically, LTE-M isn’t quite an LPWA technology since it doesn’t realistically support the battery life that would typically be required to qualify as LPWA, although within the IoT industry it is usually considered to be an LPWA technology.
• LoRaWAN: LoRaWAN is an LPWA networking protocol, designed to wirelessly connect battery-operated devices using campus, regional, national, and global networks. The development of the technology is led by the LoRa Alliance. LoRaWAN is an open standard protocol, although Semtech holds the IP for the LoRa chipsets that support LoRaWAN and earns a royalty on each device sale .
• Sigfox: Sigfox was founded in 2010, headquartered in Labège, near Toulouse, France. The company operates a few Sigfox networks under its own brand but generally licenses the Sigfox technology to Sigfox Network Operators (SNOs) in individual country territories. Sigfox (the company, and including ownership of the Sigfox technology) was acquired by UnaBiz in 2022. Aside from providing primary connectivity for simple devices, Sigfox potentially has a significant opportunity to provide backup connectivity to devices that are intended to be connected with other wireless technologies such as cellular. The rationale for using Sigfox in this way varies between applications.

The analysis contained in this report draws extensively from Transforma Insights’ LPWA database of 945 LPWA case studies for which we have found details in the public domain, extensive analysis of which is included in Section 5 of this report.

If you have any questions about the content of this report or would like to speak with the authors or any other analysts on any topic, you can make use of our Analyst Enquiries service by emailing enquiries@transforminsights.com.