The City Hub Alliance introduces LoRaWAN connectivity as a service in Sweden

LoRaWAN connectivity as a service

Let me introduce myself: I’m the COO of Öresundskraft, a communication and energy company in the south of Sweden. In February 2017, we designed and established the world first “Open City Hub” (Stadshubb in Swedish) in Helsingborg, based on the unique Swedish open wholesale business model for local fiber networks. Some 200 Swedish municipalities own and operate local open fiber networks.

A City Hub is a regional LoRaWAN network with an open and neutral wholesale business model for connectivity, basically LoRaWAN connectivity as a service.

Anyone who needs to communicate with LoRaWAN sensors can easily do so without having to build or operate their own network.

Base infrastructure

An Open City Hub offers significant benefits for companies, residents and the community:

• simplify access to IoT connectivity
• lay the ground for Smart cities services
• complement the city fiber network.

The City Hub Alliance is made up of a growing number of fully or partially municipally-owned companies, working together both commercially and technically to provide regional City Hubs all using Actility’s ThingPark platform, operated by Öresundskraft.

Large-scale and local

Each City hub runs its own business including sales, marketing, and network management. Building on the dense national fiber infrastructure combined with LoRaWAN, the Alliance offers a technical and a business platform for multiple cities. By combining the benefits of large-scale operations with local presence and market knowledge, the City Hub Alliance brings out the best of both worlds.

This LPWAN business model is now the leading one in Sweden and is growing rapidly: a new City hub a week in 2018!

I believe this model can inspire many other countries than Sweden. Would love to hear your questions or comments!