UK SIGFOX IoT Network To Cover ’95 Percent’ Of UK By 2019

WND-UK plans to cover 95 percent of the UK population with a wireless network supporting the Internet of Things (IoT).

The network will be powered by SIGFOX’s Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) standard and is intended for devices that require low bandwidth and long battery life.

The rollout will be determined by customer demand but WND-UK claims it has already built 50 base stations and covers more than a third of the country. WND has already deployed SIGFOX networks in Latin America, including in Argentina and Brazil.

UK SIGFOX

“In a world of IoT, tomorrow’s smart devices will need to be wirelessly multilingual,” said Neal Forse, chief executive, WND-UK. “In other words, they will need to be able to communicate across different kinds of networks and choose the most appropriate technology for specific tasks so that performance and battery life are optimised.

“Sub-gigahertz networks, such as Sigfox, require far less power and provide much longer battery life for the many devices that only require intermittent internet connectivity and the transmission of small amounts of data.”

SIGFOX’s ultra narrowband technology is one of a number of standards competing to connect the IoT, alongside Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular. However the proprietary SIGFOX works alongside other forms of wireless technology and is valued for its wide coverage and low power consumption.

Network infrastructure operator Arqiva has used SIGFOX technology in a number of city-wide IOT networks, while the system has been deployed on Antarctica, to help the safety of a Belgian expedition undertaking projects related to climate change and sustainability.

The company secured €150 million (£129.4m) in funding  last year to accelerate the expansion of its global network.

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