LoRaWAN networks now support 125 million devices globally, a figure that suggests the IoT technology has graduated from pilot purgatory to industrial scale.
According to the LoRa Alliance’s data, the protocol is demonstrating a 25 percent compound annual growth rate, signalling to operational technology (OT) directors that it offers the maturity required for long-term asset monitoring strategies.
Utilities remain the volume driver, with water metering representing the primary use case. Zenner, a metering provider, operates a network exceeding 10 million nodes. Other major operators, including Actility, Netmore, The Things Industries, and Veolia, validate the protocol’s stability for infrastructure.
Beyond utilities, the report notes smart buildings now use LoRaWAN as their primary wireless option for facility management. Smart industry sectors are also expanding use beyond wired legacy systems.
Standardisation and coverage
Network utility relies on reach and hardware interoperability. Two 2025 developments address these concerns for enterprise users.
Europe’s Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) approved satellite-to-low-power device communication in the 862-870 MHz band. For logistics and utility operators monitoring remote pipelines or agricultural sites, this harmonisation simplifies the tracking of assets moving between terrestrial and non-terrestrial coverage. It closes coverage gaps without requiring separate hardware solutions.
Simultaneously, the Technical Committee released regional parameters RP002-1.0.5. This update adds data rates that lower time-on-air. Reducing transmission time extends battery life and increases network capacity. In dense industrial settings where thousands of sensors operate within a single facility, higher capacity prevents data packet loss resulting from congestion.
Addressing the LoRaWAN integration gap for industrial IoT
Certification costs often stall deployment. The Alliance introduced ‘Certification by Similarity’ to address this. Manufacturers can certify variant products using the same LoRaWAN design as a parent product with fewer tests. This matters for enterprises that require custom sensor variations (e.g. different form factors or casing materials) but cannot justify full certification costs for each iteration.
Interoperability testing now validates communication between end-devices and network servers from different manufacturers. Initial results cover combinations from vendors including Actility, OrbiWise, and ChirpStack. For procurement teams, this validation reduces the risk of hardware obsolescence if the network server provider changes. The total number of certified devices now exceeds 625.
While Europe advances, the US faces spectrum friction. The Alliance is contesting a petition by NextNav to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band. NextNav intends to use this spectrum for a terrestrial positioning and timing network. The Alliance argues this would interfere with existing users of the 900 MHz band, which supports many North American industrial deployments. This remains a risk factor for US operations using unlicensed spectrum.
From connectivity to intelligence
The LoRaWAN ecosystem focus is shifting from industrial IoT connectivity to analytics. Alper Yegin, CEO of the LoRa Alliance, noted that “2025 marked a clear inflection point for LoRaWAN,” calling the technology “essential infrastructure for Massive IoT.” Yegin added that “the digital brain (AI) needs the digital nervous system (LoRaWAN) to interact with the physical world.”
For industry, this moves the value beyond data collection. The protocol’s low-power profile allows frequent collection of specific data points (e.g. temperature, vibration, flow) without high battery maintenance. Feeding this into predictive maintenance models supports a shift from reactive to proactive asset management.
LoRaWAN now sits alongside Wi-Fi and cellular as a standard industrial wireless pillar. The ecosystem includes 360 members, with 57 organisations joining in 2025. New relay specifications aid deployment in difficult environments like basements or metal-dense plants, extending coverage without extra internet-connected gateways. This offers a lighter infrastructure footprint for brownfield sites.
The LoRaWAN outlook for 2026 suggests a stabilising industrial IoT ecosystem focused on scaling and satellite integration rather than proof-of-concept. The availability of the 900 MHz band in the US is the primary external risk to watch.
See also: Direct-to-satellite report indicates decision-maker interest
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