Mobile operators are facing a familiar timing dilemma when it comes to smart cities. They can target wide area IoT applications aggressively, but make technology compromises, or they can wait for a year or two until it becomes clearer which of the many network choices will have staying power. Or they can keep all their options open, as Orange is doing in France. Despite the buzz around low power wide area (LPWA) applications like smart lighting and traffic management, most MNOs are playing a wait and see game, but with other players moving into the field – including broadband providers, private networks and city authorities themselves – they risk wasting a significant opportunity. Those non-MNOs are, of course, forced to…