Sigfox launched an end-to-end commercial IoT solution combining a multisensor device, a prebuilt application, and Sigfox connectivity. The device comes with 6 different sensors (thermometer, hygrometer, light meter, accelerometer, magnetometer, reed switch) and a central button for multiple use cases.
The device works in any of the 45 countries where the Sigfox has coverage and can be configured to communicate in multiple regions without need of any local network. Battery life can last up to 1-year depending on use and frequency of messages.
Sigfox is a French company founded in 2009 that builds wireless networks to connect low-power objects such as electricity meters, industrial sensors, etc. Sigfox uses a unique technology for extreme energy efficiency in the remote sensor and which remains compatible with Bluetooth, GPS 2G/3G/4G, and WiFi. Over the years, Sigfox has expanded its network to over 45 countries. It now claims to serve around 803 million people, with the ambition of extending the network across 60 countries and regions and reaching 1 billion people in 2018. At Mobile World Congress, Telxius and Sigfox announced a deal to expand the Sigfox network in Germany to cover more than 80 percent of the country. This entails the deployment of Sigfox equipment on a number of the 2,350 telecom towers that Telxius acquired from Telefónica Germany in early 2016. In addition, Sigfox can utilize further selected antenna locations of Telefónica Germany for further expansion of its network. To reach complete network coverage across Germany requires only about 2,500 Sigfox base stations. Previously, Sigfox Germany has acquired masts and roofs for its base stations directly. Working with Telxius, enables Sigfox to accelerate the rollout of its network as it will no longer have to negotiate directly with property owners. If the Sigfox partnership in Germany is successful, Telxius certainly offers telecom masts in all of its other market for supporting a global IoT network.