One of the clear advantages that the LTE-based NB-IoT has over other LPWANs (low power wide area networks) is that it comes with readymade global infrastructure and roaming. By contrast, deployments in unlicensed spectrum are often standalone – there are different technologies, such as LoRa and Sigfox, in play, and even between networks of the same type, there is limited roaming or interoperability. That can restrict the use cases and affect the economics of scaling up a system. Progress is being made, however. In May, Orange spearheaded a testing initiative which pointed the way forward for operators wanting to use multiple LPWAN technologies, and for a standard way to roam between different providers’ networks. It is kicking off testing on…