Thinxtra extends SIGFOX to ANZ as IoT booms

Internet of Things (IoT) communications service provider SIGFOX has teamed up with affiliate Thinxtra to extend the SIGFOX IoT network to Australia and New Zealand.

Under the agreement, Thinxtra will deploy and operate a SIGFOX dedicated IoT network in both countries, offering subscription-based services to businesses and consumers.

Thinxtra and SIGFOX aim to rapidly deploy the network to cover 30% of the population of both countries by the end of 2016, and extend this to 85% within 18 months.

SIGFOX is a low-power, infrastructure-light network tailored for the low data transmission requirements of IoT devices such as sensors and smart objects. The SIGFOX network already operates in 14 countries and has registered more than 7 million objects.

Thinxtra was established in 2015 as a SIGFOX network operator. The company is receiving major backing from New Zealand’s Rakon Limited, which designs and supplies frequency control and timing solutions for the telecom, GPS, space and defence sectors.

“Australia and New Zealand businesses are early adopters of the IoT and we have already identified a huge demand for innovative applications in multiple sectors, such as asset tracking and management, smart metering for utilities, smart irrigation, crop monitoring and cattle tracking for the agriculture sector, as well as a wide range of smart-city solutions,” Thinxtra CEO Loic Barancourt said.

“As the provider of the SIGFOX device-to-cloud offer, the world’s leading and most mature low-power, wide area-based IoT connectivity solution, our role is to help make these exciting opportunities a reality.”

The time is right for the deployment, with a recent report from Verizon Enterprise Solutions finding that the IoT went mainstream in 2015.

IoT network connections more than doubled year-on-year across industries including healthcare, home monitoring, energy, smart cities and transportation, the report shows.

Verizon expects that IoT will continue to be a revenue driver for businesses large and small in 2016 and beyond. IoT start-ups are expected to generate two to three times more funding than their consumer counterparts in 2015.

The expected arrival of 5G — the next evolution of mobile networks — in 2020 will meanwhile usher in new categories of IoT use cases, including virtual and augmented reality, the report adds.

Mike Lanman, Verizon senior vice president for IoT and enterprise products, said the results show that conceptions about the maturity of IoT are false.

“The view has been that IoT is a mashup of complex technologies used only by early adopters,” he said.

“In the past year, we’ve seen compelling examples of how IoT is being deployed by a wide range of enterprises, entrepreneurs, municipalities and developers to address relevant business, consumer and public needs. Meanwhile, consumers are more willing to try new technologies and apps that introduce a better way of life. The end result will not only give rise to thousands of new use cases over the next two years, but will also create an accelerated pipeline for innovation and a new economy.”

Image courtesy of ITU Pictures under CC