More than 150 million devices using the LoRaWAN low-power wide-area networking standard have now been deployed globally, according to the LoRa Alliance, as the technology expands from its traditional base in utilities and metering into industrial, logistics and consumer applications.
The alliance, which oversees development of the open LoRaWAN standard, said the number of connected devices was growing at a compound annual rate of 25 per cent. Deployments now include industrial sensors and utility infrastructure alongside applications such as asset tracking, smart locks, bicycles, panic buttons and staff safety badges.
The milestone was announced at The Things Conference in Amsterdam on Tuesday.
LoRaWAN is designed for devices that need to transmit relatively small amounts of data over long distances while consuming little power. It is one of several competing technologies used to connect low-power IoT devices, alongside cellular networks, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
“LoRaWAN has grown into an important part of the wireless connectivity landscape, working alongside Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellular,” said Alper Yegin, Chief Executive of the LoRa Alliance.
The scale of individual deployments illustrates the technology’s growing use in infrastructure and industrial applications. ZENNER Connect operates more than 11.6 million sensors and 174,000 gateways across 15 countries, while Netmore reports 11.2 million active devices on its network.
The Things Industries, which provides LoRaWAN network infrastructure, has 6 million connected devices, according to the alliance. Veolia has more than 4 million active smart meters in France, while module maker RAKwireless has shipped more than 2 million LoRaWAN modules for applications including agriculture, asset tracking and industrial monitoring.
The technology is also being used in less traditional IoT applications. US safety technology company CENTEGIX says more than 800,000 people use its CrisisAlert wearable panic-button badges each day across schools and workplaces.
The alliance said it now has more than 340 member organisations, with 45 joining in 2026. Its certification programme covers more than 695 devices, while its marketplace lists close to 1,000 products supporting the LoRaWAN ecosystem.
The 150 million figure is an aggregate estimate from the LoRa Alliance rather than a count of every device connected to a single network. The alliance’s figures include a broad range of deployments and device types, reflecting the standard’s use across utilities, buildings, agriculture, logistics and industrial applications.
Yegin said the range of applications showed how the technology was moving beyond the smart-metering deployments with which LoRaWAN has historically been associated, as companies look for low-power connectivity for distributed devices.
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