French networking house Sigfox will expand its deployment for Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity to 100 cities across the United States by year-end.
Sigfox currently operates in 18 countries with more than 7 million devices connected to its network of subscription-based low-power, wide-area (LPWA) communications for IoT. When the company expanded to Brazil, it marked the company’s presence on all continents and a step toward Sigfox’s strategy to establish one global, seamless network of connectivity for billions of objects.
With forecasts from analyst firms saying North America will include an installed base of 7.5 billion IoT units by 2020 generating revenue of about $1.9 trillion, opportunities abound for connectivity to play a major role in the coming years. In order to deploy into 100 U.S. cities before the end of 2016, Sigfox has partnered with multiple site owners including tower, rooftop and billboard sites in order to give the company access to more than 230,000 sites across the country.
Sigfox says it will need only a limited number of lighter infrastructure than traditional wireless networks in order to extend its network footprint across the U.S.
In smart cities, utilities, shipping and agriculture sectors that require large-scale and cost-effective communications, the U.S. represents a huge growth market for IoT connectivity, said Allen Proithis, President of Sigfox North America. By partnering with established site owners, Sigfox can get to market with its IoT connectivity quickly and allow billions of devices to benefit from IoT, Proithis said.
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