Spark and NNNCo team up to create a roaming trans-Tasman LoRaWAN network
New Zealand telco Spark and Australian IoT network builder National Narrowband Network Co (NNNCo) announced an agreement on Monday that will allow LoRaWAN users to deploy on either side of the Tasman and roam on the other side of the ditch.
In order to implement the roaming arrangement, NNNCo's enterprise platform, N2N-DL, has been integrated into Spark's network core.
"Data from devices on the Spark NZ network will feed into N2N-DL giving customers access to data on a single platform from devices enrolled in either country," the pair said.
"Spark can also do the same for customers with devices enrolled on the NNNCo network in Australia."
One of the first customers of the network will be Parkable, a New Zealand parking app that is looking to expand in Australia.
"As the economy continues to be shaped by COVID-19, we could expect to see more partnerships like this; where carriers and partners work together to enable the deployment and scaling of IoT solutions across markets," Spark IoT lead Tony Agar said.
Elsewhere on Monday morning, Australian telco Optus announced it was opening up its 5G network for its wholesale customers.
The telco said it has 900 5G sites across the country, but has yet to deploy any cells in Tasmania or Northern Territory.
Spintel is the first mobile virtual network operator to jump onboard.
Not to be left out, Australian incumbent telco Telstra said on Monday its network has hit 41% population coverage.
"Our 5G now covers an area that more than twelve million Australians live, work or pass through on a daily basis, giving them access to a superfast network at a time when connectivity's never been more important and when there'll be more 5G devices to choose from than ever," Telstra group executive for networks & IT Nikos Katinakis said.
"We've recently announced our intention to roll out Telstra 5G to 75 per cent of the Australian population by the end of June 2021, which will expand our network to even more suburban and regional areas."
Telstra recently hit 2,000 5G sites across the country.
"We're a long way ahead of our competitors because we're investing more, we've got the technology leadership and we want to extend that lead because Australia needs 5G," Katinakis added.
Last month, Telstra unveiled its invite-only 5G fixed wireless service.
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