Fixed wireless and UK broadband provider Connexin UK has signed a new deal that will see their Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) being expanded to connect up to 900,000 of Northumbrian Water‘s smart meters across the North East, which is something they’ve already done in other parts of the country.
Fixed wireless LoRa networks harness only a small slice of lower frequency radio spectrum (usually in one of the sub-1GHz bands like 868MHz or 915MHz) in order to support relatively slow, but extremely low power, data connections. Such networks tend to run at sub-Megabit speeds (often under 0.05Mbps, but some variants can handle several Megabits), which makes them ideal for linking Internet of Things (IoT) style sensors.
Connexin has already supported a number of other advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) deployment projects, such as with Yorkshire Water. Not to mention their recent agreement with NWL to install over 1 million smart water meters across the South of England for Essex and Suffolk Water.
The latest agreement means that Connexin will provide connectivity to over 330,000 LoRaWAN-enabled water meters for Northumbrian Water by the end of 2029, with a forecast that rises to over 900,000 meters over the 15-year contract.
Gary Adams, Head of Smart Programme at Northumbrian Water, said:
“We are delighted to start our smart water partnership with Connexin in the North East of England to create a smarter, more connected, sustainable future. The new communications network will enable us to capture real-time data across the region and help us to identify and fix leaks faster than ever before, to reduce waste and safeguard our environment.”
The new network will support Northumbrian Water to identify household and network leakage quickly and effectively, reducing the amount of water wasted across the region, and it will also provide households with remote access to hourly water meter readings. The agreement is the fourth major smart water meter contract win for Connexin after Yorkshire Water, Severn Trent Water and Essex and Suffolk Water.