Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1448199
® 13 END OF YEAR REPORT 2020 Approved for distribution outside of the LoRa Alliance ® ® REGULATORY UPDATES The prime objective of the Regulatory Working Group is to identify the key regulatory trends and public policy challenges to defend the LoRaWAN ® ecosystem's interests and to ensure the business of the members of the Alliance can flourish with appropriate regulation. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, most policymakers and regulators around the world were very much focused on public policies to fight the virus, so many discussions on other topics slowed down. However, the Regulatory Working Group achieved some very significant successes this year. One major success this year is the opening of license- exempt spectrum bands for the deployment of the commercial LoRaWAN ® networks in three key countries. In 2020, Morocco, Israel, and Italy are three very critical countries where the LoRa Alliance had fruitful discussions with national regulatory authori- ties leading to approval for LoRaWAN commercial deployments. On top of the noticeable releases of spectrum for LoRaWAN, the Regulatory Working Group also helped regulators in many countries to draft pieces of regulations for low power wide area networks (LPWANs) in unlicensed bands. We also provided pieces of information on national LoRaWAN deployments worldwide, specified relevant parameters to be included in regulations, responded to consultations, and participated in a spectrum workshop with the International Telecommu- nications Union (ITU) / CITC (telecom regulator in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). At the European level, the Regulatory Working Group became a partner of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) by signing a Letter of Understand- ing and participating in the ECC meetings including the ECC Plenary. The Regulatory Working Group promoted the LoRaWAN specification in Europe through work in ETSI and TG28 in particular. In 2020, the Regulatory Working Group not only improved the tools and the information on regulation that are made available to all LoRa Alliance members but also worked with research companies and consultants to more efficiently monitor the spectrum bands needed for the definition of the new LoRaWAN Regional Profiles. In 2021, the Regulatory Working Group will continue to work on securing license-exempt bands for LoRaWAN everywhere in the world and will address new regulatory challenges related for example to certification or cybersecurity.