On May 2, S. Korea’s largest telecom operator SK Telecom (SKT) signed an MoU with the Ministry of Energy of Iran, as well as the National Iran Gas Company (NIGC), to export its infrastructure management solutions based on IoT technology. In Iran, SK Telecom also signed a cooperation agreement with local energy and technology company ARSH Holdings.
With those MoUs under its belt, SKT plans to push for a variety of IoT projects such as AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) solutions, energy efficient building projects and smart home services.
SKT said it will provide 5,000 households in Tehran with smart gas meter reading services based on its LoRa technology, a standardized IoT technology co-developed by some 200 global information and communications technology companies such as Cisco, Semtech Corporation, and IBM.
SKT and NIGC will build LoRa-based IoT networks in Tehran and equip 5,000 households with smart gas meters. SKT will provide network equipment and smart meters while ARSH Holdings will be in charge of operating IoT networks.
After offering smart gas meter reading services on a pilot basis, they plan to go for the nationwide expansion of LoRa networks to introduce AMR to electricity, gas, water utilities and jointly carry out smart energy solutions.